Officers praised after letting mental health patient sleep in patrol car due to hospital bed shortage
A mental health trust has apologised after a woman at risk of suicide had to sleep in a police car outside for four hours as the bed she had been promised was not available.
A mental health trust has apologised after a woman at risk of suicide had to sleep in a police car outside for four hours as the bed she had been promised was not available.
Katie Simpkins was detained by Wiltshire Police under the Mental Health Act on August 27 after her husband Tristan reported that she was in danger of taking her own life.
After spending 11 hours in custody, Officers arranged for the 23-year-old to be checked into a hospital.
However, on arrival at 5pm they were told that the bed one of just 11 reserved for Section 136 detainees in the entire county would not be ready for another four hours.
The officers refused the hospitals recommendation to take her back to custody, and allowed her to sleep in the back of their patrol car in the hospital car park until she could be admitted.
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has now apologised and said it will try to avoid this situation reoccurring in the future.
A spokesperson for the trust said: We work closely with the police to ensure they know the availability of places of safety. In this instance we were unable to provide a bed straight away and there clearly could have been better communication.
We apologise and will be mindful of this in the future. Once the matter came to our attention, we made contact with Mr Simpkins to give him and his wife our full support.
Mr Simpkins thanked the officers for their help, especially the one who stayed with his wife for five hours after his shift ended to ensure she received the care she needed.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: I want to praise the police officer for making that decision because he finished his shift at four oclock, and he could have said my shifts finished, get her back to custody, make her someone elses problem. But he said no, well wait.
Sergeant Mike Hughes, Wiltshire Polices lead on mental health issues, said: When a person is in crisis and has been detained under the Mental Health Act we always endeavour to avoid detaining them in custody, which is only ever used as a last resort.
However, sometimes no health-based place of safety is available and our main priority has to be keeping the person safe from harm.
He added: There is always room for improvement, and we continue to work closely with our partner agencies to make sure all the people we have contact with receive the best possible support and care.