Hertfordshire Commissioner highlights long waits for crisis mental health support

Almost one in three people who are picked-up by police in Hertfordshire because they are judged to be a danger to themselves or others are waiting in excess of 24 hours to access mental health support.

The delay was highlighted by Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd, at a meeting of the Hertfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board on Wednesday (March 16).

Mr Lloyd reported that in January and February this year, 30 per cent of the 143 people who had been detained by police – under section 136 of the Mental Health Act – had remained with a police officer for 24 hours or longer.

And in the most extreme case, one person had had to be detained for 50 hours, until health professionals were available.

Mr Lloyd says that this not only takes up a significant amount of police time, but that vulnerable residents are not getting the support that they need – in the place that they need it.

“We have to find a different way of doing this,” Mr Lloyd told the board, which brings together representatives from health organisations, voluntary organisations and councils.

“This isn’t the best clinical outcome for people who are in crisis. And it isn’t the best use of police officers either.”

Under section 136 of the Mental Health Act police can detain an individual without a warrant if they appear to have a mental health disorder, are away from home and ‘in need of immediate care or control’.

Before using section 136 a police officer must seek medical advice, and that person can then be detained in ‘a place of safety’ until they can be medically assessed.

Police can detain a person under ‘section 136’ for 24 hours pending assessment – which can be extended for a further 12 hours, if it was not possible for an assessment in that time.

At the meeting Mr Lloyd pointed to a solution used in another area of the country where those detained under section 136 could be passed to a third party contractor.

He said he would like this to be looked at for Hertfordshire. And he suggested that if there wasn’t progress he would like it to be formally looked at by the board at a later meeting.

Karen Taylor is chief executive of the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT), which provides specialist mental health services in the county.

She said that the Trust had been working very closely with the Constabulary on this issue.

She stressed that in national terms the Constabulary was ‘an outlier’ in terms of the number of section 136s that it issued – suggesting there was work to reduce the number issued.

And she said the increase was symptomatic of a more general increase, that it was not an issue to consider in isolation and that it was symptomatic of an issue related to the capacity of mental health beds available.

Following the meeting Mr Lloyd said this was another pressure on the police, that had ‘a huge impact’ put further pressure on police responses.

But he said that most of all it just wasn’t right that people were detained for ‘hours and hours’.

And he said the best people to minimise the impact of that stay were not police officers, but the health care professionals that need to have.

In response to the concerns raised, a spokesperson for the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We work closely with Hertfordshire Police on a range of issues to support people who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

“Around 70 per cent of people who are detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act are held for less than 24 hours.

“We recognise that there are a small number of instances where Police colleagues have been delayed due to the need to continue to support someone whilst they are transferred to our care.

“We are seeking to reduce this time and we work with our partners to review where there have been delays in the process and to implement learning from these incidents.”