Safety fears at city mental health unit following stabbing
AFORMER member of staff at a Birmingham mental health unit claims lives are being put at risk after a patient stabbed a healthcare worker in the neck.
The patient is believed to have attacked an ambulance crew member as she was being transferred from the Oleaster centre in Edgbaston – a unit run by the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – in the early hours of June 3.
The woman was being taken to an available bed closer to her home in Wales.
Now, a former member of staff has spoken out, claiming that the unit claim is “dangerous”.
The source said: “The woman had been at Birmingham Airport and was taken to the hospital by police under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.
“She should have been thoroughly searched as a number one priority for the safety of everyone at the hospital, and kept under constant observation.
“A bed was found for her near her home in Wales. After arriving at the unit in the evening she was moved by a private ambulance at around 12.30am.
“But on the M5 she pulled out a penknife and stabbed a member of the crew in the neck. I’m told the blade went in three centime- tres. Any deeper and it would have been a much different story.”
The woman had been taken to the Oleaster as a place of safety by police on Saturday, June 2.
On June 3 the patient was being transferred by secure transport company Prometheus Safe And Secure when the stabbing occurred.
The Birmingham Post understands the incident took place on the M5 near Bristol and led to a response from two police forces.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: “We were called to an incident on the M5 at about 2.40am on June 3.
“A woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and released under investigation, but remains detained under the Mental Health Act. Inquiries are ongoing.”
The Trust said an urgent and thorough internal investigation had been launched, and chief executive John Short wrote to staff to reinforce the Trust’s policy that service users should be searched for weapons.
“Last week there was a further very serious stabbing incident involving a patient that was being transferred from our services,” he wrote.
“Whilst the individual details are being investigated, it made me reflect on some of the negative comments that I have received across the Trust in relation to our policy on searching.
“I have heard comments like ‘searching is illegal’ and that is it’s a ‘breach of people’s human rights to be searched’.
“Incidents like the one above show that we must stand up and challenge these comments whenever they are made.
“Put simply, our search policy is not illegal and does not breach anyone’s human rights.
“There is no way to assess who may be carrying a knife, or a weapon, and therefore searching is the best and most effective way that we can protect everyone in our buildings.”