Provision of an Appropriate Adult Service across Dorset, Poole & Bournemouth

The Appropriate Adult (AA) Service is to be provided in the Weymouth and Bournemouth Police custody suites and it is felt, by commissioners, that the Appropriate Adults Service has enhanced the Liaison and Diversion scheme (L&D), freed up considerable Social Work and Mental Health practitioner time, and met the statutory responsibilities of the Police.

Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole cover an area of 1024 square miles with a growing population in excess of 700,000.

A large conurbation exists in Bournemouth and the rest of the area is a mix of rural countryside, medium and small, mainly market, towns.

Dorset currently has two 24 hour custody suites located in Bournemouth and in Weymouth.

The AA scheme will link closely with the L&D scheme in both custody suites ensuring that appropriate referrals are made and those resources are used appropriately, freeing up mental health practitioner time to complete mental health and learning disability assessments and progressing offenders along appropriate treatment pathways.

The links between mental health, learning disabilities, criminal behaviours and substance misuse are well established.

Local activity figures in the custody suites give evidence to the size and ongoing nature of this problem.

NHS mental health and learning disability services are now delivered by one NHS Trust, Dorset Healthcare University Foundation and the three Local Authority areas are served by Dorset Police and Dorset Probation as pan Dorset Agencies