It occurred to me when I was cycling to work last year: this blog has clicked way beyond its first decade! Whilst I don’t post anywhere near as much as I used to (because most of what needs saying has been said), I do still enjoy tapping out the odd post because I remain convinced there’s still plenty to do, even if there’s now very little to say. It’s usually just to highlight new examples and reports which help reinforce the same points I’ve made for years.
But it stuck me this milestone might just be worth noting, briefly – over ten years of blogging. We’ve racked up over well 900 posts and pages of resources, over a million words of written text and the site has been used 2.5million times in well over a hundred countries around the world. I was amazed to find it’s been cited in official reports, Hansard and it led to me working nationally on these matters for five years at the College of Policing / National Police Chief’s Council.
What a wheeze – and my thanks / apologies go to anyone who may have ready all of them!
My current role no longer focuses on these matters — but it is one where I see these issues in play every shift I work. I remain as convinced as I was in 2004 when I first worked properly on policing and mental health that there’s plenty needs doing and the sad part about this post is the observation I can’t avoid that the things that need doing are the same things that needed doing back then.
- In 2004, I was being asked to help draft joint protocols on the various topics which are specified in the MHA Codes of Practice – this year, we’ve already seen inquests which highlight the inadequacy of some joint protocols on MHA topics.
- In 2004, I was being asked to think about the training required by officers – in this year, I’ve been involved in delivering some of that within my own force but HMIC’s 2018 report Picking Up the Pieces highlighted that training remains something which all forces need to address.
I could go on, but the blog as a whole outlines that it’s all been said.
The tendency now is to focus on the politics and funding arguments that surround austerity politics, the implications of COVID and so on – no sensible person would deny that politics, funding and pandamics have had an impact on services and progress over the last 2-10yrs. But it’s more complicated than politics and pandemics, mainly because the focus on those issues continues to prevent discussion about the problems we see which pre-date 2010. As said, the problems and debates we see now were problems and debates in 2004 and whilst no doubt, the last ten years has made things worse, when I started out on this and in the years which followed, public services had enough money to make Soloman blush, relatively speaking. I saw few attempts at rectification of them before things became more difficult – it was just a different set of obfuscations as to why it was all too difficult. Secondly, and perhaps far more importantly, there always were and there still are some relatively cost-free things we could all do (as individuals AND as individual organisations) to impact upon the state of the world and the services provided to vulnerable people and their families.
LEARN THE LAW
I remain convinced that many (or most?) of the operational problems we see surround an ignorance of the law, on which it must be said almost no public sector staff at any level receive adequate training. This year (2023), I still see and hear mental health and legal professionals giving advice or direction to police officers on mental health and capacity law and getting it wrong. And I don’t mean getting it wrong in minor, pedantic ways which are inconsequential. One recent example was an AMHP insisting that a s135(1) warrant cannot be executed by the police unless there is a “bed” in to which the patient can be admitted (despite having not yet been formally assessed as needing it!). This is simply wrong – it is perfectly legal for officers to attend a location with an AMHP, a doctor and a warrant in order to remove the person to a place of safety for assessment even though there may be no bed for admission, if that’s deemed to be required.
And think about why this may be: sometimes, where a person is suicidal and at risk, removal to a Place of Safety may be the thing which enables that person to be immediately safeguarded and it then gives agencies up to 24hrs to complete the assessment and find a bed. Doing this when it’s reasonably required might be the only thing that prevents liability for an Article 2 violation of a known suicide risk. And of course if you don’t do this because you’d prefer to have the bed lined up ready, you risk your inaction leading to an adverse outcome that is difficult to defend. And we know this: because incidents in the real world have made this point for us.
This is not hypothetical: we know His Majesty’s Coroners have had to examine matters where people died and other incidents have occurred which were thankfully non-fatal, but still serious that also rammed the point home. Those lessons from Preventing Future Death reports need far better assimilation across the agencies to which they relate.
There it is — learn the law, keep chipping away to make sure you’re not on the wrong side of it when the music stops and let’s hope that lessons outlined in the PFDs are indeed taken on by managers who can adjust systems, processes and policies accordingly.
Winner of the President’s Medal, the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All views expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2023
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 