An Exploration of Section 136 Detentions
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mental health and social care: The increasing role of police intervention in cases of mental distress
IRAS ID
283249
Contact name
Jasmine Fledderjohann
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 3 days
Research summary
This is a mixed methods PhD project that aims to investigate the increased numbers of persons in mental distress within the community who are detained by police under Section 136 (S136) of the Mental Health Act.
After detention, persons are taken to a place of safety for a mental health assessment by an Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) and medical staff. Legally, the assessment must be completed within 24 hours, although this has been extended to 36 hours under the Coronavirus Act. Due to rising rates of detention alongside resource cuts under austerity measures, it is not uncommon for this time to be exceeded resulting in a breach of Article 5 (right to liberty) of the Human Rights Act. Detained persons are often in the care and control of police officers for the duration of their detention.
The project will be situated within Lancashire. Data on S136 detentions by Lancashire Constabulary are collated by Lancashire Care Foundation Trust and cover all hospitals within the Trust. It is an anonymised version of this data that I am requesting from the Trust.
The data contain dates and times of detention, arrival at hospital-based places of safety, details of any transfers and discharge from the detention. They also contain a basic summary of why the detention occurred, the name and type of place of safety used, whether or not a bed request was made and the outcome of the detention i.e. if the detained person was admitted or discharge with or without follow-up arrangements.
Anonymised NHS Trust data on persons detained under S136, will be analysed using statistical modelling (e.g. descriptive statistics, chi-squared statistics, linear and logistic regression analysis, latent class analysis) to document any relationships between variables. This analysis will enable greater understanding of risk factors in the detention process and will thereby highlight areas where resources could be targeted to enable improved outcomes.
The qualitative aspect of this research involves interviewing people who have personal experience of S136 detention and will be valuable to understanding precursors to and effects of S136 detentions. These participants will be sourced via charitable support agencies and thus do not form part of this application. Ethical approval for this aspect of the research has been granted by the FASS & LUMS ethics committee at Lancaster University, reference number FL19140.
This PhD is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is based within Lancaster University.REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/NW/0351
Date of REC Opinion
29 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion