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35,970 claims
Street triage is impractical in rural areas due to low population density.
The challenge for Dyfed-Powys is how such approaches can effectively be applied to low populations over large geographical areas.
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 64
There is a high degree of support among respondents that gaps in local mental health services lead to more people reaching crisis point.
93.7% of the police agreed, with 67.3% strongly agreeing: while 92.4% of service users agreed, with 79.4% strongly agreeing.
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 60
Communication between different agencies involved in the operation of Sections 135 and 136 is poor.
There was agreement across all types of respondents that communication is an area for improvement; paramedics in particular thought that communication was poor (95.6% agreed, and 64.4% strongly agreed).
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 59
There is widespread agreement among respondents that there are not enough approved mental health professionals.
There was widespread agreement that there need to be more AMHPs, especially out of hours when a single on-call AMHP may be covering an entire area, including a range of other duties.
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 59
There is over-representation of BME groups in Section 136 detentions, raising concerns about discrimination.
There is substantial evidence that those from certain ethnic minorities being taken to places of safety under Section 136 are much higher than most other groups
Context · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 55
Extending Section 136 powers to health professionals could alter therapeutic relationships and reduce trust.
Some were concerned that giving health professionals and AMHPs these powers would alter the therapeutic relationships between them and their patients, leading to less trust
Service · Risk statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 52
Health professionals and AMHPs lack the necessary resources or skills to manage violence.
Other staff lack the required resources or skills to manage violence or aggressive
Operational · Risk statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 52
Extending Section 135 and 136 powers to health professionals could reduce inappropriate detentions under Section 136.
Too many [Section] 136's are used inappropriately (drunk and disorderly). If mental health professionals had the support in terms of managing risk in the community they would have a better idea as to who fits the criteria for [Section] 136 and therefore would reduce the amount of those being arrested under that order.
Policy · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 50
There is a gap in the law that prevents immediate action by police or health professionals when dealing with mental health crises at home.
I think police need powers to respond and intervene to mental health crisis in a person's own home. This is a gap in provision and is often cropping up as a potential risk to a person’s health and safety (police and mental health professionals aware but unable to intervene immediately)
Context · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 47
Health professionals should be given powers to enter and remove a person from their home during a mental health crisis.
A new section should be written specifically for this situation since it is not a rare event. Safeguards need to be added and the new section should only be used when there is an urgent need that means Section 135 would be too slow.
Policy · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 47
Using unmarked vehicles is important to preserve the dignity of people detained under Sections 135 or 136.
Voluntary sector workers, service users, and Local Authority workers were most likely to agree that unmarked vehicles help to protect the dignity of the person being transported.
Policy · Stakeholder position · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 41
The majority of paramedics and ambulance staff believe ambulances should not routinely be used to transport people detained under Sections 135 or 136.
The majority of paramedics and ambulance staff (70%) agreed that ambulances shouldn’t routinely be used to transport people detained under S136
Policy · Stakeholder position · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 41
People detained under Sections 135 or 136 often have to wait longer than 30 minutes for an ambulance.
Most respondents agreed there were long waits for ambulances. The ambulance service recently introduced a Section 136 protocol for a 30 minute response time.
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 40
There is disagreement over whether Section 136 should apply in places other than those to which the public have access.
Overall, more respondents agreed than disagreed that Section 136 should apply anywhere except for a person’s own home, which would include railway lines, and other places where a person may be in urgent need of help (for example, by being suicidal).
Policy · Stakeholder position · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 35-37
There is a need to introduce emergency measures for faster response in obtaining Section 135 warrants.
With the huge increase in the use of community treatment orders and consequent need to often obtain a s135 warrant, there should be an emergency provision by which a warrant can be obtained within a very short time i.e. 2 hours.
Operational · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 34
Warrants can be granted based on insufficient evidence or outdated information.
The warrants can be applied for with misinformation and not evidence. Can be prone to misuse based on incorrect opinions of poorly trained professionals and too much emphasis on previous case histories, resulting in a harsh approach for certain BME individuals.
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 34
Approved mental health professionals should not have to pay for Section 135 warrants.
Almost 30% of respondents didn’t know, having not experienced getting a Section 135 warrant themselves. However, most people agreed that AMHPs should not pay
Financial · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 32
The appropriate maximum length of detention in police custody is less than the current 72 hours.
For police custody, 270 respondents chose 24 hours maximum, and another 249 chose 4 hours
Operational · Metric statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 28
The maximum length of detention under Sections 135 and 136 is considered too long by a majority, especially in police custody.
Overall there is strong agreement that the maximum length of detention is too long, especially in police custody (86.1% of people agreed, of which 61.8% strongly agreed)
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 26
Police often have to wait a long time with the person at the place of safety, which is seen as a poor use of their time.
This was a near-universal view from the police with 94.4% agreeing overall, and in 77% of cases strongly agreeing that police have to wait a long time with the person at the place of safety
Operational · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Summary of responses from public consultation, page 22