Frustration as Mental Health Act detainees driven over 60 miles out of Harrogate to custody suites in Scarborough and Darlington

North Yorkshire Police chief inspector Alex Langley said people who are detained under the Mental Health Act have been taken as far as Scarborough or Darlington after the closure of the section 136 suite at Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Wing in May 2020.

It has meant police officers have been out of action for several hours as they drive detainees around the county.

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Speaking at a recent Harrogate Borough Council meeting, chief inspector Langley described the scale of the mental health crisis and impact on officers as “phenomenal”.

He said. “We don’t have a section 136 suite in Harrogate any more so if we detain somebody under the mental health act we could end up in Darlington or Scarborough, and that is a real challenge for us.

“They have to go in an ambulance and it takes multiple officers and a significant amount of time.”

He added: “I would love for my officers to not have to go to any mental health incidents and actually send a mental health professional with better training and competence than we have.

“But in reality with the cuts, if we get a call from somebody who is in crisis and we are the last barrier then we have to go.”

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Mental health services in the Harrogate district are provided by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust which said it has an assessment suite in Haxby north of York.

It added its staff work closely with North Yorkshire Police and that new ways of working have seen a reduction in detentions under the mental health act.

The lack of custody cells for all types of arrests was recently raised as a concern by county councillors who said they were worried over a wider impact on police response times.

Members of North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel have asked commissioner Zoe Metcalfe to provide a report into the impact of officers in the north of the county having to take detainees to Harrogate and Scarborough following the closure of cells in Richmond and Northallerton.

Panel member Martin Walker, a former judge, told commissioner Metcalfe he had received various reports that police were “not arresting people that perhaps they should” because of the added travel time.

“I can’t see there is any other reason for doing it than saving money,” he said about the closures.