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35,970 claims
The review recommends that children and young people should never be detained in police cells.
Children and young people should never be held in police cells as places of safety
Policy · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Easy read version of the summary of the review report, page 5
The review suggests that police stations should only be used as places of safety for individuals who are highly violent.
Police stations are only used as a place of safety for people who are very violent
Policy · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Easy read version of the summary of the review report, page 5
The review found that keeping individuals for up to three days under Sections 135 or 136 may be too long.
Lots of people told us that: 3 days (72 hours) is too long to keep people for, although most people are not actually kept for the full 3 days
Policy · Observational claim · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Easy read version of the summary of the review report, page 4
Legislative changes are needed to reduce the use of police cells as places of safety for people detained under S136.
There is a need to reduce the use of police cells as places of safety for people detained under S136 to those circumstances where such use is unavoidable and to end their use for children or young people
Policy · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 12
Health services and police should explore the potential for new technologies to improve responses to mental health crises.
Health services and police should work together to explore the potential for new technologies to improve police and health responses to mental health crises
Service · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 12
Training on mental health needs to be improved for all agencies.
Training on mental health needs to be improved for all agencies involved in mental health processes need to work together to develop a multi-agency framework of training
Service · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 12
Multi-agency groups should meet regularly to review data and discuss issues.
Multi-agency groups should meet regularly to review data and discuss issues. In some areas multi-agency groups regularly review S136 detentions, identifying repeat detentions
Service · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 12
The police and health services should work towards improved data capture, monitoring, and review.
The police and health services should work towards improved data capture, monitoring and review. The police should record every use of S136 carefully including ethnicity and length of detention
Service · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 12
The Code of Practice should provide guidance and clarification on issues where custom and practice is not compliant with legislation.
The Code of Practice should, where possible, provide guidance and clarification on issues where custom and practice has developed that is not compliant with the current legislation
Governance · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
Close working arrangements between out-of-hours magistrates and AMHPs should be adopted as best practice.
In some areas, close working arrangements between out-of-hours magistrates and AMHPs have helped to ensure that obtaining a warrant does not introduce unnecessary delays. This should be adopted as best practice
Operational · Procedural statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
Digital warrants should be introduced to reduce time spent travelling to and from courts.
There are proposals for digital warrants to be introduced which would reduce the time spent travelling to and from courts. This is to be encouraged
Operational · Procedural statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
Courts should prioritise S135 warrants for urgent cases.
Courts should prioritise S135 warrants where the AMHP explains that it is very urgent
Operational · Procedural statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
Local Authorities should sign up to the new Fee Account system for S135 warrants.
Local Authorities should sign up to the new Fee Account system to ensure payment for the warrant does not become a delaying factor
Operational · Procedural statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
Alternative places of safety, such as designated care homes or modified police stations, should be explored.
CCGs in England, and their equivalent in Wales, and partner agencies should explore alternative places of safety, such as designated care homes, or modifying the environment and facilities in police stations so that a space other than a normal cell could be used for S136 detentions.
Service · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
CCGs should consider the transportation needs for people detained under S136 when commissioning ambulance services.
CCGs or their equivalent should specifically consider the transportation of people detained under S136 when commissioning ambulance services.
Commissioning · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
CCGs should review their commissioning processes for places of safety to ensure they meet CQC standards.
CCGs in England (and their equivalent in Wales) should review their commissioning processes for places of safety to ensure they are commissioning to CQC standards.
Commissioning · Policy statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 11
The review recommends reducing the maximum detention period to 24 hours.
5. Reducing the maximum length of detention under S135 and S136 to 24 hours from 72 hours, in any place of safety
Policy · Commitment statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 9
The review recommends amending legislation to apply S136 in more places.
4. Amending S136 to apply anywhere except a private home but including railway lines, private vehicles, hospital wards, rooftops of buildings, and hotel rooms
Policy · Commitment statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 9
There is support for legislative change to allow police to remove a person from their home without a warrant.
However, there is considerable support among many practitioners and the families and carers of service users for legislative change to address this situation
Policy · Commitment statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 8
There is support for reducing the maximum detention period to 24 hours.
Many practitioners and service users who responded to the review supported a reduction in the maximum length of detention (currently 72 hours) in police custody to 24 hours
Policy · Commitment statement · From Review of the operation of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act — Executive summary of the review report, page 8