Nick Fairweather was invited to speak, on behalf of the firm, on BBC Radio Kent this morning, concerning alarming figures secured by the station under Freedom of Information Requests made of the Kent and Medway Social Care Partnership Trust.
The data shows a seven fold increase in expenditure on private out of area hospital facilities at an average cost of £8,000 per patient.
Kent Police have gone public in expressing their concern and dissatisfaction in having their frontline services diverted to ferrying mental health patients out of region.
Nick spoke about the closures suffered in East Kent with bed reductions at Thanet and the closure of the entire Mental Health Services at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.
Nick argued that shutting these local beds may seem attractive financially in the short-term but the knock on effect is higher costs in the public sector, longer term as well as passing on responsibilities to other services, such as the police, this being a drain on their resources.
Most importantly, is unacceptable for vulnerable people like our clients who find themselves stuck in the Criminal Justice System, for however long, when they should be receiving treatment as patients in hospital.
Please click below to hear the radio coverage in full.