People with mental health problems are more likely to be referred to government’s counterterrorism programme | The BMJ

People with mental health problems are more likely to be reported by the NHS to Prevent, the government’s counterterrorism strategy, a report has found.1Research by health charity Medact found that a disproportionate number of referrals come from mental health trusts or departments, reiterating a 2016 finding published in The BMJ .2Medact sent freedom of information requests to a sample of 77 NHS trusts in Prevent Priority areas, and received 49 responses with varying degrees of disclosure. The four specialist mental health trusts that responded made 89 referrals to Prevent in the two years to March 2019. Of the 18 non-specialist trusts that replied with a breaking down of their data, 40 referrals came from mental health departments and 45 came from other departments.According to the report, the …

Source: People with mental health problems are more likely to be referred to government’s counterterrorism programme | The BMJ