Forces adopt national scheme to reduce response to mental health incidents

Known as ‘Right Care, Right Person’, it has been trialled by Humberside Police, and helped the force save an estimated 15,000 work hours a year by passing mental health calls to other services.

A report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services in November last year found patients were getting better treatment, and that police had freed up resources as a result.

If all forces in England realised time savings similar to those reported by Humberside Police, this could save around one million hours of police officer time a year, says the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

‘Right Care, Right Person’, which has its origins in the NHS, has also been implemented by other forces, including Lancashire Constabulary, South Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police.

It is an approach designed to ensure that when there are concerns for a person’s welfare linked to their mental health, medical or social care issues a simple principle guides the response.

That is the right person with the right skills, training and experience should provide the appropriate level of care and support.

The NHS says ensuring care is provided by the agency that can best meet the individual’s needs should be the overriding objective for health and policing to establish, and it is clear that in many cases this will not be the police.

Across England and Wales, there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of mental health incidents police had to attend last year, according to data from 29 of 43 forces.

A national partnership agreement for the new approach was signed on Wednesday (July 26) that will be adopted by police forces across England.

“While some mental health incidents do require police attendance, there are a significant number which involve no safety risk or crime,” says the NPCC.

“The new approach will mean police stop attending a lot of health incidents, unless there is a significant safety risk or crime being committed, and instead refer these to the appropriate partner agency.

“Where police officers do take a person in a mental health crisis to hospital under the Mental Health Act, the agreement emphasises the need for local partners to work towards handovers happening in one hour.”

A national toolkit has been developed by the NPCC and the College of Policing to support police forces in implementing Right Care Right Person, which will see vulnerable people receiving the specialist health support they need.

Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Bacon, NPCC lead for mental health, said: “We know there are thousands of incidents each year in which police officers are not best placed to provide the specialist expertise and support people need.

“We are now able to put a number on the many hour’s officers spend waiting with patients in hospital, attending incidents where someone really needed an ambulance or doing welfare checks for individuals under the care of a health agency.

“I do want to reassure our communities that the police will always be here to protect you and will always attend incidents where there is a threat to life. This is not about us stepping away from mental health incidents, it is about ensuring the most vulnerable people receive the appropriate care which we are not always best placed to provide.

“There’s also evidence that in some instances, police attendance could have a negative impact on the individual, making them feel criminalised when what they need is specialist help.

“Making Right Care Right Person a success relies on close working with our partners in health and social care and we are grateful for their support in both the national partnership agreement and local implementation.

“We all want to achieve the same goal of ensuring people receive the care and expertise they need from the right agency.”

Chief Constable Andy Marsh, chief executive officer at the College of Policing, added: “The public want police catching criminals and protecting them from harm. Attending mental health calls is not always appropriate and these changes will strike a better balance so that the public receives the service they want.

“Police are not trained mental health professionals and the new toolkit will triage incoming calls to police so that the public receives the best response. The toolkit is unique in policing and will offer support and guidance to call handlers when managing mental health, concerns for welfare and missing persons.

“This is a change for policing across England and Wales and the College of Policing will be supporting forces as they focus their efforts on keeping their neighbourhoods safe.”

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners mental health lead, Lisa Townsend, said the national partnership agreement represents “a vital first step to ensuring vulnerable people receive the right care from the right person”.

“For too long, we have seen the police step up to respond to non-emergency mental health calls, often spending long periods of time with people when what they really need is specialist medical support,” she said.

“The police are not medical professionals, and we should not expect them to be.

“This is why we have launched this new partnership agreement.

“Moving forward, police and crime commissioners will work closely with cross-government colleagues, police, health and social care partners to ensure vulnerable people receive the necessary support, whilst at the same time freeing up police resources to tackle crime and deliver safer communities for the public.”

Each force will develop a bespoke implementation plan and work with local partner agencies to embed the approach.

The national partnership agreement is in place for England. However, forces in Wales will continue to work closely with Welsh government and partners to achieve the principles set out in Right Care, Right Person.

There is currently no standard measurement for estimating police officer time spent on mental health incidents.

There were almost 37,000 individuals detained by police in England and Wales under section 136 in 2021/22.

Use of the section 136 has increased by ten per cent in the past four years.