Reacting to tonight's BBC Panorama broadcast "Locked up for being ill?" Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Clive Loader, said:
“Tonight’s Panorama will have made striking viewing for some people and I’m pleased the great work of the triage car has been highlighted to a national audience.
“A prison cell is not the right place for someone suffering from mental distress and the results of the triage pilot demonstrate quite clearly that not only are vulnerable people being better provided for, but also that the impact on police resources is dramatically reduced.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It became very clear to me when I took on this role of PCC that no agency has a true understanding of the complete mental health picture in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The police will deal with incidents, as will GPs, local authorities, A&E and of course the mental health service providers, but this data has never been brought together.
That’s why we - and all those agencies mentioned - are contributing to a huge piece of work. Led by the clinical commissioning groups, and due for completion before the end of the calendar year, all the data collected by each individual agency will be brought together and analysed. Only when we have a complete picture of the kinds of mental health related incidents with which each of the agencies is dealing can we adequately commission services and make decisions about deploying resources. This is, therefore, not just for the police but for every organisation which provides services to those with mental ill health.
Posted on Monday 9th May 2016