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Police chief's outburst sees teen girl taken out of custody

One of the country's most senior policemen has condemned the provision of mental health care for children in Britain as "unacceptable."

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'Thousands' of mental health patients taken into custody

Thousands of people with mental health issues are being taken into police custody every year because of a lack of mental health care provision, a leading charity has warned.

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said while the teenage girl being held for two days was “troubling”, it was far from an isolated incident.

Each year thousands of people with serious mental health problems are being held in police cells, including many children and teenagers, because the right services either don't exist in their community or are completely overstretched.

Being held in a police cell can be extremely distressing, and should only ever happen as an absolute last resort.

But many people are being turned away from 'places of safety', because of staff shortages or lack of spaces. In some parts of the country, there are no health-based places of safety full-stop.

– Mark Winstanley, Rethink Mental Illness

The girl has now been found a place locally, NHS bosses have confirmed.

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Police chief's outburst sees teen girl taken out of custody

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