Mental health provision is totally inadequate in this country: we already know that. But you can only really understand quite how badly broken it is by looking at how much other public services are creaking as a result. Take the report today from patient safety watchdog the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB), which warns that mental health patients stuck in emergency departments in England are at risk of significant harm because they can currently leave of their own accord, even when staff deem them too sick to be on their own. 

Coppers are not supposed to be spending eight hours sitting in A&E, and neither is A&E supposed to be a mental health ward

Coppers are not supposed to be spending eight hours sitting in A&E, and neither is A&E supposed to be a mental health ward

A&E staff do not have the power to stop a patient leaving before assessment or admission, meaning that........

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