ADULTS with autism or learning difficulties are being locked up in secure units unnecessarily, it is claimed.

Whistleblowing health professionals have spoken out following a national newspaper campaign to stop the routine locking up of teenagers and young adults with autism and learning disabilities.

Both Castle Point and Rochford, and Southend clinical commissioning groups have used the Mental Health Act to section people living with autism spectrum and learning difficulties. Basildon has yet to supply this information.

The figures were revealed following a freedom of information request.

Both admitted detaining up to five people but refused to say exactly how many, claiming this would somehow identify them.

The secrecy behind the activity is one of the reasons serious concerns have been raised.

The Castle Point and Rochford medical team also refused to say how long individuals were held or why.

Southend Clinical Commissioning Group revealed those being held by the group had been detained for less than five years and in units in Hertfordshire and Norfolk.

The group also confirmed none of those detained in secure units were children and less than five additional people were detained on a voluntary basis.

Many of those locked up under the act are held in private clinics which can charge up to £730,000 a year for each patient, much of it funded by the NHS.

Castle Point and Rochford said its patients were held in NHS units but Southend did not reveal what type of facilities it had sent people to.

Andy Brogan, executive director of mental health and deputy chief executive at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said: “The decision to section someone will be taken after a Mental Health Act assessment is carried out. The assessing team needs to agree.”