Request
The Committee is doing a piece of work looking at the use of Tasers by the police on patients in mental health wards. We originally contacted the central SUI team at the Department of Health and asked them for information about this. They said that one or more SUIs involving tasers had been reported by your SHA and gave me your contact details. They didn’t provide any more information but suggested that you might be able to help with this. So – if the Taser SUI(s) reported by your Trust did involve patients in mental health wards we would be extremely grateful if you could forward an (anonymised) incident report on to us to inform our workstream. If the Taser SUI(s) don’t relate to patients in mental health wards then it would be helpful if you could just confirm this.
Our Response
I refer to your email requesting information in respect of police use of Tasers in Mental Health Wards.
I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) that we do not hold the information that you have requested.
I am able to confirm to you that the Police have not used Tasers on patients in NHS mental health wards that fall within the boundaries of NHS East Midlands.
I hope that this information is of use. If you are dissatisfied with the way in which we have dealt with your request you can ask us to review our decision by writing to:-
Mr Moosa Patel
Director of Corporate Affairs
NHS East Midlands
Octavia House
Interchange Business Park
Bostock's Lane
Sandiacre
Nottingham
NG10 5QG
If at the conclusion of any review you remain dissatisfied you may complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:-
The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
