Mental Health Units in need of HELP

Since men in white coats were abolished the role of dishing out help with mental illness has fallen largely on the police. If people are ill and know they need help they can walk into any hospital and be seen by a doctor. If they do not want to go then they can be forced under section, in extreme cases, by a doctor.

The majority of intervention comes at the time by police officers in the form of a Section 136 of the Mental Health Act. This is a section predominantly for people who we as the police believe are a harm to themselves or another person. Whereby we can force someone to seek medical assessment. It seems though that these sections are looked upon negatively within mental health establishments as a way for us police to detain someone, or anyone.

Mental health units have tried all the tricks in the book with me let alone anyone else. To recall a few I had one male who was found standing in the middle of the road, running in and out of traffic pointing a makeup brush at cars and making a bang noise. I nearly ran over him as I arrived but he was rejected as by the local unit he wasn't from the area, this meant we had to get him assessed at the police station.

Another was a male who was detained as he was saying that whatever happens he will kill himself and once we talked him down he told me to take his shoe laces as the voices would tell him to strangle himself. He was rejected as the worker at the unit was on her own and was SCARED to be left alone with him!!! He only ever threatened to harm himself and not anyone else.

The final one I recall if when I detained someone drunk who threatened to jump off a building, waited till he blew 0 in custody and took him to the unit and they put him on their in calibrated device and he blew 63... They wouldn't have it, back to custody he went for an assessment with us.

Don't get me wrong, we argued our case every time, from our level up to operational Inspectors!! BUT the NHS will have none of it!! I look forward to the NHS reform if it helps us with this...