EXETER MP Ben Bradshaw has branded a letter sent to two Government Ministers from NHS bosses as "laying bare" the "chronic shortage" of appropriate accommodation for mentally ill young people across the UK.
A letter, seen by the Echo, was sent to the Minister of State for Care and Support the Rt Hon Norman Lamb, and the Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims the Rt Hon Mike Penning, by the chief executives of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust, which is responsible for adult mental health services in Devon, Plymouth Community Healthcare and the Cornwall Foundation Trust, and signed by the chief constable for the two counties Shaun Sawyer.
It was in response to a letter sent to the trust from the two MPs regarding the use of police cells to temporarily detain mentally ill people.
The Ministers' letter was prompted by the case of a mentally ill 16-year-old girl from Torbay, who had to be detained in police custody for 48 hours in Exeter because there were no free hospital beds anywhere in the country for her.
Figures released to the Echo by Devon & Cornwall Police reveal that in the 12-month period between October 2013 and September 2014, 750 people were detained. Of those arrested under the Mental Health Act in Devon, 28 were children, with 27 detained – five in Exeter, one overnight.
In the letter, the chief executives said police cells should not be used for children or adults with mental health problems other than on an "exceptional basis", and holding the child in a cell was "clearly unacceptable".
The letter described the provision and commissioning of mental health services as "complex" and "adds challenge to providing a seamless care pathway".
Mental health services for those aged 17 and under are provided by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Exeter.
Virgin Care is responsible for Devon Integrated Children's Service, which has been responsible for providing CAMHS since April 2013.
But although CAMHS is responsible for the first three levels of a care, mild to severe, it is not responsible for tier four, emergency cases: While CAMHS professionals respond to emergencies, NHS England is responsible for finding beds for the patient.
The Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group commissions Virgin Care for tier three, but has so far been unable to confirm how much of its budget it provides to CAMHS.
However a spokesman previously confirmed to the Echo that it only provides seven to eight per cent of the total NHS budget in Devon to the Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
They said that "other challenges are similar to those that the whole NHS faces regarding a lack of parity of funding for mental health services as clearly articulated by the Minister for Health and the significant inadequacies in the provision of CAMHS services as set out in the recent Health Select Committee report".
Commenting on the situation facing Devon's young mentally ill and the police force, Inspector Paul Morgan said mental health care is an "under invested area" with a knock-on effect on police forces countrywide. "We are frustrated by the situation – police custody centres are not the right place for initial care," he added.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt previously blamed "poor communication on the ground" for the 16-year-old being held in custody in November.
Former Health Minister Mr Bradshaw said the letter "demolishes Jeremy Hunt's claim in Parliament that the problem in this case was communication".
"It lays bare the chronic shortage of appropriate accommodation for young people and the chaos and confusion caused by the Government's disastrous reorganisation of the NHS," he continued. "There are now so many different organisations involved in commissioning and providing services, no one takes ultimate responsibility.
"It is also completely unacceptable for children with mental health problems to be kept on ordinary paediatric wards in our local hospitals."
He added: "We have been warning the Government about the growing crisis in mental health services and in particular children's mental health services in Devon for three years, yet they've done nothing and the situation has got worse."
