Another recent Preventing Future Deaths notice from a Coroner has pricked my attention, concerning the sad death of Hannah Breadshaw from Greater Manchester.  Inevitably, PFDs are brief and not all details are included, but to my reading, this may be about the ever-blurred distinction between a threat to life incident and a somewhat more routine “welfare check”.

The relevant timeline regarding a call to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) about Hannah’s welfare is given as –

• A friend of Hannah’s rings GMP at 12:30pm to raise “welfare concerns” and it was allocated a 1hr response time;
• An ambulance was requested at 12:45pm and they arrive on scene first, at 2:10pm;
• They request police for force entry at 2:26pm and chase GMP several times over two hours until police arrive at 4:47pm;
• Entry forced, patient found deceased.

The IOPC were informed of the incident and they flagged three particular concerns prior to the inquest.  1)  a failure to escalate the incident, 2) a failure to make method of entry equipment more...

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It is being heavily trailed in the media that the Queen’s Speech this year, will contain a Mental Health Act (Reform) Bill – the beginning of the process of amending the Mental Health Act 1983, in its first significant upgrade since 2007, but trailed as a first major upgrade in forty years, since it was first enacted.  In fact, much of the 1983 Act is just the 1959 re-numbered, so it’s more like 63yrs old, but I disgress.

We do not yet have sight of the draft Bill but for those who want a quick catch up ahead of seeing what happens, the recent history is —

• In 2017, Professor Sir Simon Wessely began chairing a review of the Mental Health Act which reported in late 2018.
• In 2020, the Government produced a White Paper, outlining various ideas for discussion and public consultation.
• In 2021, the Government produced its response to the public consultation on the White Paper.
• 2022 – we are likely to see an actual Bill placed before Parliament for its consideration.

The links above are to the posts I wrote at the time on...

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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 a psychiatrist) to permit a patient to leave hospital, sometimes with conditions attached and it’s a crucial part of the process of mental health care, ahead of patients being discharged as part of their recovery.  Some patients can be detained for a considerable period of time after being acutely unwell, to imagine a person who at one point had lost the ability to make many of their own decisions and just keep them detained until they could be fully discharged, would be weird and fraught with risk – authorised leave is a part of preparing patients from discharge and building up resilience and decision-making capacity, ahead of full discharge.

GRANTING LEAVE

But none of this means all leave granted is...

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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 change of policy to prevent women languishing in police cells (presumably, there as a place of safety). The briefing itself is short (10 pages) and this one point is only mentioned in brief, relying in turn on a report from Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons and Probation about an inspection which obviously must have wider implications across the prison system.

Before I get in to this: of course, prisons are over-relied upon to accommodate highly vulnerable people in circumstances where they should be able to access mental health beds in a much more timely way.  Additionally, but separately, it can be said there are difficulties securing access to MHA beds for those who require admission...

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One of the best parts of my job is giving out commendations at the Chief Constable’s Achievement Awards at Tally Ho. We try very hard to share great stories from these evenings as there is so much great work and that is just the tip of the iceberg!

Last month Parminder Hunjan and Maninder Hunjan were convicted of wounding with intent on PCs Leon Mittoo and James Willetts. I have to say the bravery by both on that day, which was graphically shown on the body cameras, was beyond extraordinary and one of the most courageous things I have seen in 32 years in policing. The determination to attack is extraordinary and the actions by both officers is incredible. They will be recognised.

It is a sober reminder to the public that whatever the imperfections in policing it is made up of some of the most amazing people. They were also both student officers.

Which brings me to some very unhelpful media coverage on student officers recently, which I found really annoying.

Ever since Robert Peel invented policing we have recruits...

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