Hi, same thing happened to me recently, with a patient who was threatening to go into the street with a knife & kill someone, anyone. Police rode with us to A&E, not the right place of course but until we get direct admission to a mental health unit , what else can we do (get an out of hours GP?, get real)? Police accompanied us to A&E, where I asked my mate to go & explain the situation, thinking we might be able to get the bloke into a side room, for everyones' benefit. No chance, out comes the A&E consultant, took one look at the patient, & refused to admit him. He told us that as the police were there, they should detain him on a 136. The officers were split 50:50, one for one (with mental health liaison experienc) against. Their sergeant, back in his nice cosy station argued that as the guy was at a place of safety (in an ambulance, outside A&E), they couldn't section him. Catch 22! By the way, we were now well past the end of our shift. Final compromise was that we spoke to the local mental health unit, who (wonder of wonders) agreed to take this patient if the A&E consultant would confirm over the phone. The only people to emerge with any credit from this whole sorry affair were the people at the MH unit, & it's not often I say that. To be fair to them, it's not really their fault, but the system which stinks: yet another illustration of how shameful provision for mental health is in this rich country. The only way we could have got this patient the treatment he needed via A&E would have been for him to become violent & to have been hurt while being restrained: & I'm being serious.