The Home Office has today hosted a cross-agency roundtable as
part of its efforts to tackle the demand on police of dealing
with cases involving mental health issues.
The police and health response to those in mental health crisis
has improved, supported by government funding, legislative
changes and better partnership working. But it remains the case
that many calls to the police have a mental health component.
Today’s roundtable brought relevant agencies together to share
good practice and consider further opportunities for
collaboration to ease the burden on the police and provide mental
health sufferers with appropriate care and support.
It was attended by Minister for Policing and the Fire Service,
, officials from the Department of
Health and Social Care and representatives of the emergency
services, among others.
Minister for Policing and the Fire Service, , said:
Police are too often left to deal with people suffering from
mental health issues, who actually need help from healthcare
professionals and social services.
We have made progress but are determined to do more to free up
police time so they can focus on fighting crime, while ensuring
vulnerable people get the care they need.
The roundtable follows the minister writing to all forces and
police and crime commissioners in February asking for more
information about the scale and nature of the demand they face.
The feedback showed a sizeable proportion of the cases involving
mental health issues that the police deal with relate to ‘concern
for welfare calls’. They may involve injury, missing persons or
suspicious circumstances, for example, and come from the public
or health and social service agencies.
Some individuals with complex needs are also persistent callers
to emergency services. The Metropolitan Police said they logged
2,269 calls from one individual in 2017.
Police have previously estimated that they may spend between 20
and 40 per cent of their time dealing with mental health cases.
Examples of good practice shared by police forces included street
triage schemes, which enable officers to access health
professionals for timely and relevant advice, and initiatives to
put care packages in place for persistent callers.
The government has invested £30 million to increase health-based
places of safety and banned the use of police cells for under 18s
in mental health crisis. This has led to significant reductions
in the use of police cells to hold people detained under section
136 of the Mental Health Act.
A roll-out of mental health assessments in custody suites and
criminal courts also continues, supported by government funding.
Those present at the meeting included representatives from:
- Association of Police and Crime Commissioners
- National Police Chiefs Council
- College of Policing
- Independent Office for Police Conduct
- HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services
- British Transport Police
- Association of Ambulance Chief Executives
- Association of Chief Fire Officers
- National Fire Chiefs’ council
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Public Health Wales
