Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983
gives the police powers to remove a person who appears to be
suffering from mental disorder and who is “in immediate need of
care or control” from a public place to a place of safety. Removal
may take place if a police officer believes it is necessary in the
interests of that person, or for the protection of others. The
purpose of removing a person to a place of safety (usually a police
station cell or hospital emergency department) is to enable them to
be assessed by a doctor or interviewed by an allied mental health
professional; however, they may be discharged from there without
ever having seen a mental health practitioner. Because Section 136
is one of only two types of civil detention under the Mental Health
Act for which no statutory form is required, there continues to be
a lack of reliable data on the use of Section 136.
This updated report is a set of
standards giving guidance on the use of Section 136. It
advocates the provision of dedicated assessment facilities in
mental health units, which must be adequately staffed. The focus of
this report has moved more to monitoring and research and it
includes 24 separate recommendations focusing on:
- Physical standards of places of safety
- Staffing issues
- Conveyance of patients between places of safety
- Local Policy and monitoring of standards (both at the local and
the national level).
The report includes a
revised version of the standardised recording
form to monitor Section 136 detentions; this will give
rise to much-needed data on the quality of care and will enable
research to be conducted and audits to be carried out to ensure
that standards of care improve.
The recommendations in CR159 now also
apply to Wales as it takes into account the Codes of
Practice for both England and Wales (2008).
Note: This report replaces CR149: Standards
on the use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (2007)
(version for England) from 2008 and CR61: Report of the
working group on standards of places of safety under Section 136 of
the Mental Health Act (1983) from 1997.
Contents
- Organisations endorsing the report
- Executive summary and recommendations
- Preface
- Working Group
- Introduction
- Comments on preliminary report by users and
carers from Black and minority ethnic communities with experience
of the use of Section 136 (September 2007)
- Place of safety
- Staff roles and responsibilities in relation
to Section 136
- Local policy and procedure on the use of
Section 136
- Procedure for implementation of Section
136
- Monitoring and audit
- References
Appendices:
- Mental health monitoring form
- Staff roles, responsibilities and support
required
- Success criteria from the Review of
Section 136 Mental Health Act
- Comparison of the Codes of Practice for
England and for Wales in relation to Section 136 of the Mental
Health Act