The number of people suffering from mental illness who are being locked up in police cells, rather than getting access to suitable places of safety, is continuing to fall as a more joined-up approach to services takes hold in Staffordshire. In the first ten months of 2014, 61 people with mental health issues were detained in police custody in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent compared to 137 for the same period in 2013 – a reduction of almost 60 per cent. In October alone, three people were detained in police custody compared to 12 in October 2013. The progress comes after Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, put pressure on mental health service providers to agree a protocol for when NHS ‘places of safety’ are unavailable to ensure alternatives other than custody are in place.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:32:57 +0000
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