Some Dorset mental health patients are being sent to beds hundreds of miles away

Available for over a year

Figures obtained by the British Medical Association show a 40% rise in the number of mental health patients being sent out of their local area for treatment. Families of patients in Dorset face an average round trip of five and a half hours, and one patient was sent to Darlington, 323 miles away. Dr Andrew Molodynski is the mental health lead of the BMA's consultant committee.