Alarm over restraint of NHS mental health patients

New figures reveal that girls, young women and black people are more likely to be held down by staff on wards

Alarm over restraint of NHS mental health patients

Patients in mental health units were physically restrained by staff more than 80,000 times last year in Britain, including 10,000 who were held face down or given injections to subdue them, new NHS figures show.

Police reveal ‘unlawful’ mental health detentions

Police reveal ‘unlawful’ mental health detentions

By Ross HawkinsPolitical correspondent, BBC Radio 4 Today   Police chiefs in England and Wales say they may be unlawfully detaining arrested people needing mental health care more than 2,000 times a year. Some people have been held in police cells for several days because there is no hospital bed for them, the National Police […]

BIG INCREASE IN PHYSICAL, SEXUAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF ELDERLY IN SALFORD

BIG INCREASE IN PHYSICAL, SEXUAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF ELDERLY IN SALFORD

There’s been a big increase in cases of abuse concerning Salford’s vulnerable and elderly people, rising from 492 referrals in 2015/16, to 731 in 2016/17, up by 33%.

Compulsory mental health care orders at 15-year high

Compulsory mental health care orders at 15-year high

The number of compulsory mental health treatments in Scotland has hit its highest level in at least 15 years, according to a watchdog report.

Assaults on mental health staff up 25% in four years

Assaults on mental health staff up 25% in four years

Mental health staff in the UK are working in a “powder keg” environment, as assaults by patients soar, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Figures obtained by 5 live Investigates show there were more than 42,000 reported attacks on staff in 2016-17 in the mental health trusts who responded.

Government accused of ’empty promises’ on mental health as NHS plans to slash funding

New figures reveal half of CCGs plan to reduce proportion of their budgets spent on mental health

Government accused of ’empty promises’ on mental health as NHS plans to slash funding

Cash-strapped Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England said they will reduce the proportion of their budgets spent on offering mental health support in 2017/18, despite previous commitments from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt that spending would increase.

Heavy alcohol use alters brain functioning differently in young men and women

Heavy alcohol use alters brain functioning differently in young men and women

Scientists have found that brain functions in young men and women are changed by long-term alcohol use, but that these changes are significantly different in men and women. This indicates not only that young people might be at increased risk of long-term harm from alcohol use, but also that the risks are probably different in men and in women, with men possibly more at risk. This work is presented today at the ECNP meeting in Paris.

Mental health patients are being treated hundreds of miles away – due to a lack of beds in Manchester

Hundreds of desperately ill patients were sent almost 200 miles from Greater Manchester for 'out-of-area' placements.

Mental health patients are being treated hundreds of miles away – due to a lack of beds in Manchester

Hundreds of desperately ill patients were sent almost 200 miles from Greater Manchester for ‘out-of-area’ placements.

Who pays the penalty when mental health services fail?

Moira Tombs will be speaking at Community Care Live London in September about how the mental health system let her down. Her shocking story will make you re-evaluate what you know about safeguarding

Who pays the penalty when mental health services fail?

I have personal experience of being the subject of a safeguarding alert. My story highlights why the six guiding principles of safeguarding (empowerment, prevention, proportionality, protection, partnership and accountability) matter and how failing to put them into practice can be so costly.