30 Jul BPS response to announcement that police are to attend fewer mental health calls
The government has today announced a new national agreement between health and policing partners which means police officers in England will no longer respond to urgent concerns about mental health if there is no risk to life or crime being committed.
Under the ‘Right Care Right Person’ agreement, police forces in England and Wales who are currently attending up to 80 per cent of health and social care incidents are expected to reduce their responses to between 20-30 per cent within the next two years.
The BPS welcomes the ‘Right Care Right Person’ agreement, but is extremely concerned that the ambitious scaling up of the plan across England within the short implementation period could have catastrophic consequences, while mental health services continue to be under-equipped to meet demand.
Dr Roman Raczka, BPS President-Elect and Chair of the Division of Clinical Psychology, said:
“We absolutely agree that the vast majority of people in mental health crisis should be supported by trained mental health practitioners, and not the police. However, to withdraw police support within the next two years, at a time when mental health services are already stretched beyond capacity and under resourced after years of chronic underfunding, is simply dangerous.
“The promised investment in mental health services will not deliver trained mental health staff to the frontline overnight, particularly bearing in mind the NHS’s well-documented recruitment and retention issues. We’re extremely concerned that people in crisis will fall between the gaps with potentially catastrophic consequences, with even greater risks to children and young people.
“It’s vital that all mental health trusts receive adequate funding to do this, and that realistic and achievable timeframes are in place to resource and safely deliver this plan across England.”
