NEW safe spaces for people suffering from mental health crises are to be created in Sussex as part of moves to offer better alternatives to police cells.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded more than £630,000 for new facilities and refurbishments to existing sites across the county.

The money has been awarded from a £15m national fund from the Department of Health and Home Office being share out to more than 40 projects around the country.

Improvements include a new £223,500 custom-built suite for adults, children and young people at Mill View Hospital in Hove for those held under the Mental Health Act.

Patient Janet Müller was able to escape from the secure unit by walking through the front doo and climbing a garden wall before she was killed last year.

killed after she was able to walk out of the unit.

In 2014, 738 people were arrested under the act and taken to police custody in Sussex, although this figure had dropped to 190 last year.

The reduction was helped by the introduction of a street triage scheme in parts of the county, where specialist mental health nurses work with police on patrol to provide support and avoid the need for people to have to be taken into police custody.

A further £190,000 will be used to establish urgent mental health care lounges within Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards.

The trust has also secured an additional £222,861 for improved mental health services in West Sussex.

This includes a street triage vehicle, a new place of safety for children and young people in Chichester, a new crisis lounge in Bognor and refurbishments to three A&E sites at Langley Green Hospital in Crawley, Worthing Hospital and St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

A spokeswoman for the trust said: "If you’re in a mental health crisis a police cell is the wrong place for you.

"With this money we will be able to open crisis lounges and improved places of safety, ensuring that people experiencing a crisis, in particular children and young people, get the right care in the right place and at the right time."

Sussex Police mental health liaison officer Sarah Gates said: “We are absolutely delighted with this funding from the Home Office.

“It is vitally important that anyone in a mental health crisis is looked after and this funding allows us to continue our work with the partnership trust."