Duty of Care

Last week’s topic seems to have been discussions about the ‘duty of care’, real or imagined, which may be owed by the police. Firstly, Inspector Huw Griffiths from Hampshire Police mentioned this a lot when he presented brilliantly at the National Mental Health Forum CPD Event in Birmingham; secondly, it came up on the Masked […]

Playing the Mental Health Card

I spent the first hour of my Saturday responding to all the ill-informed comments on the Northumbria Police facebook page, after their media release following the sentencing of Ethan Mountain at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday. He was convicted earlier this month of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after unlawfully killing 62yr-old Joan Hoggett […]

Not Just Points of Pedantry

I took a phone call last week from police force X, seeking advice. A patient who had absconded from a mental health unit in police force X had turned up in a hotel well over 100 miles away in police force Y’s area – he was AWOL under the Mental Health Act 1983 which creates […]