MORE people are being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in Oxfordshire according to new figures.

On March 31 this year, a snapshot was taken of people detained under the act in the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust with around 435 people sectioned on that day - an increase from 430 at the same time in 2017.

The rise mirrors a trend seen across the country.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said that while reasons for the increase were complex, one factor is that people are waiting too long to receive help for mental illnesses.

The Mental Health Act is used in cases where people require urgent treatment and pose a risk to themselves or others.

It can be imposed following an assessment by a mental health professional and a doctor.

The numbers provided by NHS Digital are kept approximate to prevent identification of people sectioned.

Based on the information from the trusts that provided data, in England, there were more than 21,000 people sectioned on March 31, an increase of five per cent from the previous year.

In total, the Act was used on 49,551 occasions across England in 2017-18, an increase of 2.4 per cent on the previous year. Some people will have been detained more than once.

President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, professor Wendy Burn, said: “More people being detained under the Mental Health Act represents more people with mental illness reaching crisis point. The reasons behind that are complex.

“What we do know is that people are waiting far too long to get help.”

A poll conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that 24 per cent of people diagnosed with a mental health condition reported waiting more than three months to see an NHS mental health specialist, and six per cent waited more than a year.

The NHS Digital data showed that nationally black and minority ethnic people are more likely to be sectioned, with people from a black or black British background more than three times as likely to be detained as white people.

An independent review of the Act, commissioned by the Government, is due to be published in December.

A spokesman for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health servcies in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties, said: "Demand for mental health services has been rising in recent years and that may lead to increases in the number of people being sectioned.

"Our 1.2 per cent increase in a year, compared to a national five per cent increase in the number of people subject to the mental health act on a given day, is relatively small and reflects an increase of five people from 430 to 435 across the five counties we serve.

"We aim to provide timely mental healthcare to prevent people become acutely unwell even as demand and complexity of conditions is rising.

"When people are acutely unwell, the framework of the mental health act provides legal safeguards for patients ensuring they receive safe, protective as well as timely care in times of crisis."