West Midlands expands mental health pilot
A mental health triage scheme in Birmingham will be expanded to Coventry and the Black Country following a successful pilot.
A mental health triage scheme in Birmingham will be expanded to Coventry and the Black Country following a successful pilot.
In August 2013, West Midlands Police was one of five forces, alongside the Metropolitan Police Service, British Transport Police, West Yorkshire Police and Thames Valley Police, to be selected to pilot a scheme aimed at improving the way people with mental health problems are treated during emergencies.
The Mental Health Triage Pilot, a Department of Health initiative, has seen police officers crewed with mental health nurses and paramedics in a plain responder vehicle since January, reacting to emergencies across Birmingham and Solihull and carrying out mental health assessments immediately at the scene.
The force claims it has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of people suffering mental ill-health being detained and taken to police stations. Since the beginning of this year, section 136 of the Mental Health Act, the power to detain someone for their own safety, has been used 176 times during 1,058 callouts. Only two were subsequently taken to police stations.
Of the people assessed, 306 were dealt with at the location by the triage team instead of being sent to accident and emergency, and 228 patients who needed to go to hospital were transported in the street triage car, who would otherwise have required an ambulance or been transported in a police response vehicle.
Chief Inspector Sean Russell, who oversaw the trial, said: Around 20 per cent of police demand is a result of mental health issues and historically weve let people down because we havent worked together with agencies like the ambulance service, hospitals and mental health providers.
This scheme has resulted in a cultural shift to a more collaborative approach; we share more information and work closely together. Its led to marked improvements in the treatment given to members of the public who need our help, a significant cut in the use of police stations as places of safety to almost zero and a reduction in demand on the police and the healthcare system.
John Short, chief executive at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: The evidence from this pilot so far is overwhelming and we believe that this service is making a fundamental shift for the better in mental health services.