VULNERABLE adults from the Craven area detained under the Mental Health Act could be taken to Harrogate for treatment.

Those detained by the police are currently taken to the Airedale Centre for Mental Health, at Airedale General Hospital, or Lynfield Mount in Bradford, depending on where they are at the time.

But now, they could also be taken to a new 136 Place of Safety Suite at Harrogate District Hospital.

The suite, run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley’s NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), has been made possible through a partnership with NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG, North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire County Council and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

A Section 136 Place of Safety suite is somewhere a person can be detained for up to 72 hours if they are in mental health crisis and the police believe them to be in immediate need of care for their own, or another person’s, safety.

Police contact the Place of Safety in advance, providing details of the individual detained and their symptoms, before taking them to the suite where a rapid medical assessment by a mental health professional will allow arrangements to be made quickly for the individual’s treatment and care.

This means police officers are free to continue with their work and will mean vulnerable adults will no longer be inappropriately detained.

It is the fourth Section 136 Place of Safety Suite to open in North Yorkshire, following those in Northallerton, York and Scarborough.

North Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable, Tim Madgwick, said it was welcome news.

He added: “Police cells are no place for people who are suffering from a mental health crisis, nor are police officers mental health specialists. It is vitally important anyone who is in such a situation receives the appropriate care and support when they are at their most vulnerable."

Police and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, said: “I am delighted to see this fourth and final health-based place of safety opening in North Yorkshire. For too many years, vulnerable people in need of medical support have had no alternative than to be ‘detained’ in police cells."