Safety cash for mental unit women

Mental health units in England are to get £30m to improve the safety of female patients and cut the numbers of sexual assaults, the government says. A report by the National Patient Safety Agency earlier this year said there had been 19 allegations of rape.

Trusts will be able to bid for funding for measures such as extra locked doors and separation for female patients. Mental health campaigners said the funding was long overdue and would reassure patients.

After the National Patient Safety Agency's claims, the mental health tsar Professor Louis Appleby was asked to investigate them and make recommendations to the Department of Health about how mental health settings could be made safer.

In addition to the extra safety measures, patients are to be provided with more support if they want to report an incident and guidance will be issued to ensure all incidents and allegations are managed appropriately.

Professor Louis Appleby said: "Although the vast majority of mental health patients receive safe and effective care, we need to do more to prevent serious incidents from occurring and when they do occur we must ensure that they are dealt with effectively."

He said his investigation had found there was "significant doubt" that 13 out of the 19 alleged rapes had occurred.

But he added: "Despite what has been discovered about these 19 cases, I believe that the general issue of sexual safety remains important and I am determined to see that this issue is addressed.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said: "Mind has been highlighting the problem of unsafe wards for a long time. "We are glad that moves are now being made towards better inpatient safety.

He added: "Patients have to believe that it is worth making a complaint and that they will be taken seriously. Too often this isn't the case, and patients feel ignored or intimidated. "The eradication of mixed-sex wards must be an absolute priority. This is long overdue and would go some way to reducing fear and intimidation among patients."

He added: "While it is positive that the Department of Health has recognised the importance of designing wards to enhance safety, we hope that this re-allocation of money pledged last year won't compromise other capital projects to improve our dilapidated mental healthcare buildings."

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "We have long campaigned for greater privacy and protection for psychiatric patients, and we are delighted that measures are being taken to provide more effective prevention and response to incidents. We hope the new investment will lead to real improvements and make conditions not only safer but more therapeutic on the many wards which, far from being places of refuge and asylum, are overcrowded, bleak and rife with aggression."