I’ve often known police officers wonder aloud as to why patients detained in mental health units under the Mental Health Act are permitted to have leave from hospital when they are a known flight or suicide risk.  Section 17 MHA allows the Responsible Clinician (MHA term for lead clinician in charge of someone’s care, usually […]

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System has published a briefing on “Women’s Health and Wellbeing in Prisons”.  This post is about one specific claim only, within that briefing – that prisons are regularly but inappropriately being used a “place of safety” (PoS) and this is an unintended consequence of a […]

I’ve often wondered if the Codes of Practice to the Mental Health Act 1983 are the least read documents in all of what I’ve spent time blogging about.  I say “codes” (plural) because there are separate documents for England (2015) and for Wales (2016) and for those who don’t know, a Code of Practice is […]