Drug use can be a serious problem in mental institutions

Mental health groups are calling for government guidelines to help staff tackle the problem.

They fear hospitals could be sued by patients who accuse them of failing in their "duty of care".

Up to 50% of the 13,000 mental patients in the UK are thought to use illegal drugs, say surveys.

There are patients who are at the hospital who are using illicit drugs. Sergeant Pam Morgan

Many patients use drugs, often in a bid to cope with their symptoms.

But there are growing concerns that class A drugs are regularly being brought onto the wards, and in some hospitals, there has been evidence of patients dealing in drugs.

There is no suggestion staff are complicit in allowing illegal drugs to be used.

However, the Mental Health Commission is calling for clear guidelines from the Department of Health for hospitals seeking to confront the issue.

'Sidelined'

Prashant Phillips - an academic and former psychiatric nurse - says there's been reluctance to admit there's a problem.

He said: "The tendency has been to sideline drug and alcohol problems and deal with the mental health problem. That is starting to change now.

"Certainly there is a fairly concerted effort to screen patients when they enter hospital and provide some kind of intervention."

Access

St Ann's Hospital, a large inpatient mental health unit in Tottenham, north London, has surveyed staff and parents and found "alarmingly high" rates of drug use.

Shaun Hare, assistant director at St Ann's, said: "At least 50% of our inpatients have a concurrent problem - normally an illicit substance or alcohol problem."

Sergeant Pam Morgan heads a team of three police officers responsible for patrolling the hospital site.

She said: "Obviously there are patients who are at the hospital who are using illicit drugs. They do go out of the hospital and get access to them."