Agenda item

Local police forces and Healthwatches have provided the enclosed submissions.

The stakeholders, Inspector Claire Robbins and Terri Collins (Police), Darren Morgan (Healthwatch), Fiona Connelly and Moira McGrath (Lambeth), Jay Stickland and Dick Frak (Southwark), Kenneth Gregory and Amy Ducton (Lewisham) gave their views and informed the meeting that:

•  A series of meetings had been held and a Memorandum Of Understanding had been drawn up which had been primarily agreed by all the involved boroughs.

•  Discussions had been held regarding those who may need to use the Place of Safety facility who were based outside of the involved boroughs.

•  There were specific issues relating to resources at Lewisham. Partial re-structure at Lewisham was required as AMHPS based in Lewisham were shared with Children’s Services. This could result in a temporary staff-shortage if staff were required to travel to the Place of Safety facility.

•  Representatives for the borough of Southwark stated that the Memorandum of Understanding needed to lead to a legally binding agreement between the involved boroughs.

•  The Memorandum of Understanding also needed to be used as a template or as a guidance for consulting with other boroughs so that there was clarity on the practice for service users who may use the facility but were based outside of the involved boroughs.

•  All activities occurring in relation to the use of the Place of Safety facility would be closely recorded and addressed.

•  It was not clear how much time it took to commute from Croydon to Southwark in rush hour traffic.

•  All the involved boroughs would be impacted in different ways due to the implementation of a single Place Of Safety and arrangements would be made to ensure that no involved borough was any more significantly impacted than another involved borough. 

•  A joint action plan may be required to resolve any of the unresolved issues.

•  The use of more than one Place of Safety was not likely to be financially or practically viable although the option could have been more closely considered.

•  There had been a general agreement that the implementation of the Place of Safety would be “cost neutral” for all the involved boroughs. However, this did not appear to be inclusive of the local authorities specifically. Representatives for the borough of Lewisham had advised that there were likely to be additional costs incurred by Lewisham Council. 

•  There was concern with regard to the specific points of action which may need to be taken in the event that the Place of Safety facility was full. It was thought that the facility could become full as other facilities located in other areas may not be available and service users from other boroughs may be directed to the facility. 

•  In the event that the Place of Safety facility was full, the next nearest available facility was the St George’s Trust in Wandsworth. 

•  The Police would telephone facility staff before escorting potential service users to the facility in case the facility was full. To help alleviate the potential of the facility becoming fully booked, service users who were only awaiting transport or other minor services could be transferred to other rooms.

•  The facility was to become operational in October 2016.