Recurring concern

Unreliable place-of-safety arrangements for intoxicated or mentally unwell people at immediate risk

First to latest report 11 Jul 2014 — 26 Feb 2021

Reports that mention this concern
2
Times this concern has been raised
2
Stated actions linked to this concern
0

What this concern includes

Includes failures of arrangements specifically intended to provide a safe place, refuge, monitoring and appropriate protective response for intoxicated or mentally unwell people at immediate risk, including police decisions to use or fail to use such arrangements and the availability of suitable facilities.

What is not included
  • Excludes general mental-health service access, treatment or crisis-support failures where no place-of-safety or safe-refuge arrangement is involved.
  • Excludes ordinary police safeguarding or departure decisions involving injured or intoxicated people where no place-of-safety, refuge or equivalent protective arrangement is identified.
  • Excludes ambulance response, hospital admission and clinical treatment delays after a person has been safely placed or accepted for care.
  • Excludes generic homelessness, alcohol-misuse or public-order concerns without an identified immediate-risk place-of-safety requirement.

Reports and published responses 2 reports

See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response

  1. Inner South London

    AI-generated summary

    Mr Joseph Agnew · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    Mr Joseph Agnew suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest after being removed from a bus and left in a bus shelter, was later found unresponsive, and died five days after admission with a devastating brain injury. The report raised concerns about police training and assessment of intoxicated people with reduced responsiveness, including recognising snoring and monitoring breathing, post-incident learning, and the lack of a safe referral facility for acutely intoxicated homeless people found on buses.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lack of a safe referral facility for acutely intoxicated homeless people found on buses

    Wider context from the report

    “4. For the attention of the Mayor of London: Evidence was heard that whilst the police can refer chronic rough sleepers to charities, there is no facility to which police can refer acutely intoxicated homeless people found on buses. It was reported that such facilities do exist elsewhere and that they create a place of safe refuge where monitoring can be effectively conducted. The potential of such a facility to save lives is drawn to the attention of the Mayor. ”

    Source location

    Mr Joseph Agnew · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 3 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Intoxication management services are commissioned by borough public health teams, the London Ambulance Service and NHS, rather than the Mayor.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “There are several alcohol intoxication management services (AIMS) that have been commissioned by local borough public health teams, the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the NHS, such as the SOS bus in the City of London and Alcohol Recovery Centres that run in several London boroughs. These services are not run by the Mayor. These services are designed to receive, treat and monitor intoxicated patients who would normally attend Emergency Departments and to lessen the burden that alcohol-misuse places on A&E services. These mainly operate at Christmas and other busy times of the year when demand for the London Ambulance and A&E services is high.”

    Source location

    2021-0055-Response-from-Greater-London-Authority-on-behalf-of-Mayor-of-London-Redacted
    Page 4 · response
    Published 1 March 2021

    Open published response

  2. Cornwall

    AI-generated summary

    STUART MILES LONG, otherwise known as, CAMERON TURNER · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    Stuart Long was struck by a van and subsequently hit or run over by at least three other vehicles after stepping or running into the A30 carriageway on 22 December 2013. He had mental health issues and alcohol misuse, and the principal concern was confusion about how to respond when anti-social behaviour involved a person who was intoxicated or mentally unwell; the report stated that taking him to a place of safety would have prevented him from jumping in front of cars.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure to take people exhibiting dangerous behaviour while intoxicated or mentally unwell to a place of safety

    Wider context from the report

    “In the early hours of the morning of his death, Mr Long was removed by police from his home address due to inappropriate behaviour (involving a vulnerable adult) while in drink. Mr Long had long term mental health issues and misused alcohol and was known to behave inappropriately when both of these issues deteriorated. On this occasion he was seen by members of the public to be jumping in front of cars. These behaviour was known to the mental health professional who worked with him. It appeared from the inquest that there was some confusion as to how to appropriately deal with anti-social behaviour when someone was in drink/mentally unwell. If Mr Long had been taken to a place of safety he would not have been able to jump in front of cars/die. In addition, his actions could have caused more accidents and/or led to the death of others. ”

    Source location

    STUART MILES LONG, otherwise known as, CAMERON TURNER · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 2 · concerns

    Open source report

Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.

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Data last updated 7 September 2026