Mental Health Act detentions rise by a fifth in one year
MENTAL health issues led to people in Cheshire and Merseyside being sectioned more than 2,000 times last year.
There were 2,335 detentions under the Mental Health Act in the Cheshire And Merseyside Sustainability And Transformation Partnership (STP) area in 2018/19.
The numbers jumped by a fifth in just a year.
This was up from 1,950 detentions in 2017/18, and 1,770 in 2016/17, according to figures released by NHS Digital.
Under the Act, people with a mental disorder may be formally detained in hospital (or ‘sectioned’) in the interests of their own health or safety, or for the protection of other people.
The rate of detentions in the STP area was above than the England rate of 89.9 per 100,000 people at 94.5 per 100,000 people.
At the end of March this year, there were 1,100 people who were subject to treatment under the Act in Cheshire and Merseyside.
The number was up from 1,025 subject to treatment under the Act at the end of March 2018, according to the figures published by NHS Digital.
This included 920 people who were sectioned, and 175 people who were subject to Community Treatment Orders (CTOs).
CTOs are where people are treated in the community but subject to recall to hospital for assessment and/or treatment.
Most of those subject to the Act are being treated by Mersey Care NHS Trust (560), with 360 treated by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust and 180 by North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Trust.
Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
Across England, there were 49,988 new detentions in 2018/19, of which 30,478 took place at the point of admission to hospital.
A further 15,834 occurred following admission, with 3,504 detentions following a place of safety order and 199 after the revocation of a CTO.
A place of safety order is when police use their powers under the Act to remove a person who is in a public place and is apparently a danger to himself or to other people, somewhere they may be assessed by a doctor.
National figures are incomplete due to variations in the amount of information submitted by individual providers.
However, after accounting for data quality, NHS Digital estimates the number of detentions has risen by 2% in a year.
Vicki Nash, head of policy and campaigns at Mind, the mental health charity, said the newly released figures were evidence
● the mental health system is not working.
She said: People aren’t getting the help they need, when they need it.
“Racial disparity in the use of the Act is also an ongoing injustice, with Black people still four times more likely to be detained far more likely to be subject to the Act’s most coercive powers.
“The NHS must better promote race equality in mental health services and in the use of the Act through concrete commitments, including to build relationships with local communities.
“We know that more people are struggling to access services, more people reaching crisis point and more people are facing racial injustice in the mental health system.
“Detentions will only start reducing once people have high quality, culturally relevant and timely mental healthcare at the point they ask for it.
“For this to become a reality services need to be adequately funded and properly staffed, and the Government must take the Mental Health Act review forward as a matter of urgency.”
Detentions of those aged 15 and under are growing fastest, rising 15% from 378 in 2017/18 to 433 in 2018/19.
This was followed by the 18 to 34 age group, with a 6% rise from 115,121 detention in 2017/18 to 15,991 in 2018/19.
This age group was also the most likely to be sectioned, with 128.9 detentions per 100,000 people.
Detention rates for black people (288.7 detentions per 100,000 population) were more than four times those than those for White people (71.8 per 100,000 population).
NHS Digital analysis shows 15.5% of people detained under the Act in 2018/19 were detained more than once during this period, up from 15.4% in 2017/18.
Just 2.5% of people were detained more than twice, up from 2.4% a year before, with NHS Digital suggesting repeated detention is not a major factor in rising levels of detention in England.
Reform of the Mental Health Act was announced in the Queen’s Speech in October.
At the time, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “There will always be occasions when detention under the Mental Health Act is the right approach, but our current laws have not seen any significant change for decades. This legislation is being carefully crafted with experts.
“Alongside wider reforms it will help to turn the tide and give patients a vital say in how they are treated. Any person living with acute mental illness or reaching crisis should feel that they are being listened to and that they are in control of their own treatment and future.”