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The number of escapes from secure psychiatric hospitals reinforces the campaign by Unite, the country's largest union, for national standards for mental health services.

Unite embraces the Mental Health Nurses Association and its professional officer, Brian Rogers today (Tuesday, 9 September) welcomed the indication from Department of Health mental health 'czar', Professor Louis Appleby that such standards will be introduced for all secure services.

Unite was commenting against the backdrop of a BBC Freedom of Information investigation that revealed at least 116 escapes from medium and low secure psychiatric hospitals last year.

Brian Rogers said: 'Louis Appleby's comments are a great start, but are just that - a start. Secure services are a very important and significant part of mental health care. Public confidence demands that high standards are in place to ensure both public safety, as well as the delivery of high-quality patient care.'

'However, the overwhelming majority of mental health service users are not treated in that part of the mental health system and experience huge variations in the care that they receive.'

Unite's campaign for national standards demands an end to the 'postcode lottery' of mental health care, where the lack of these standards has contributed to massive differences in how service users access care, as well as the nature of the service they receive.

Two months ago, Unite proposed a three-point plan to improve mental health services in England The template for action followed stinging criticism of the mental health system by the Healthcare Commission. One finding revealed that 45% of psychiatric nurses and 15% of patients had been physically attacked in the last year.

Unite called for:

- greater investment in terms of facilities, as well as staff support and training
- the real need to establish national standards for in-patient care for facilities, as well as staffing levels
- to reinforce the need for closer and more integrated links between different parts of the mental health service.

Unite/CPHVA press releases can be seen on the CPHVA website: http://www.unitetheunion.com/cphva

Unite is the largest union in the UK. It has seven professional sections: the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, the Mental Health Nurses Association, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the Society of Sexual Health Advisers, the Medical Practitioners' Union, College of Healthcare Chaplains, and the Hospital Physicists Association.

Unite was formed by an amalgamation of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union in May 2007.

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