Van to stop mental health patients being locked up [BBC.com]

Samantha Sangenito 1/14/164:00 AM

Mental health patients going through a psychotic episode are set to be spared time in prison cells by a new service.
Dyfed-Powys Police launched a pilot project in January 2015, where a triage van was sent to their aid.
This has since prevented more than 100 people being kept in cells under the mental health act and assisted 180 others in west Wales.
The service is now set to become a permanent fixture in the force's areas, BBC Wales understands.
Instead of arresting the patient, the van is sent, which carries a Dyfed-Powys Police officer and a Hywel Dda University Health Board mental health worker.
In Wales in 2014/15, there were 541 incidents of people being detained in police cells as a place of safety under the mental health act.
Of these, 16 were under the age of 18.

[For more of this story go to http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-35300815]

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