Met Police to stop attending mental health calls

The UK's largest constabulary unit says it volition halt attending exigency calls related to intelligence wellness incidents.

London's Metropolitan Police volition lone be calls related to intelligence wellness wherever determination is an "immediate menace to life".

The determination volition beryllium introduced from September successful a bid to escaped up serviceman resources.

The BBC understands Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley wrote to wellness and societal attraction services past week.

Police forces crossed Great Britain person seen a important emergence successful the fig of intelligence wellness incidents they person dealt with successful the past 5 years.

Some constabulary chiefs judge the emergence is down to constabulary progressively being seen arsenic the archetypal edifice for radical successful a crisis, arsenic good arsenic a deficiency of capableness successful the assemblage to woody with increasing intelligence wellness demands.

The Met says it is looking to "redress the imbalance of responsibility", which often sees constabulary officers "left delivering wellness responsibilities".

The College of Policing defines a intelligence wellness incidental arsenic "any constabulary incidental thought to subordinate to someone's intelligence wellness wherever their vulnerability is astatine the centre of the incident". And constabulary officers are estimated to walk 20-40% of their clip dealing with specified incidents.

The Met's caller program has already been adopted by Humberside Police, who introduced the Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) strategy successful 2020 to guarantee intelligence wellness calls are dealt with by intelligence wellness professionals.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the RCRP programme was "hugely palmy successful improving outcomes, reducing request connected each services, and astir importantly ensuring that the close attraction is being delivered by the close person."

"Police are compassionate and highly skilled but they are not trained to present intelligence wellness attraction and walk an mean of 10 hours with a diligent erstwhile they are sectioned nether the Mental Health Act.

"In London unsocial betwixt 500-600 times a month, officers are waiting for this magnitude of clip to manus implicit patients, and it cannot continue," they added.

The BBC has spoken to constabulary and healthcare leaders astir the pressures connected intelligence wellness services and the magnitude of clip frontline constabulary officers are spending looking aft patients successful crisis.

One constabulary officer, speaking connected information of anonymity explained, "frontline cops effort not to usage the powers we person due to the fact that it takes america disconnected the streets erstwhile we should beryllium answering 999 calls".

The serviceman explained that idiosyncratic tin detained nether Section 136 of the Mental Health Act, which gives constabulary officers the powers to "remove idiosyncratic to a spot of safety".

But issues emergence due to the fact that "when nary 1 is escaped to measure them astatine hospital, we cannot conscionable permission them".

The authorities announced a £150m superior investment successful January to amended the places and spaces crossed the NHS for radical experiencing - oregon astatine hazard of experiencing - a intelligence wellness crisis.

It said the backing volition let for the procurement of up to 90 caller intelligence wellness ambulances, which volition instrumentality specializer unit straight to patients to present enactment connected country oregon transportation them to the astir due spot for care.

If you are affected by immoderate of the issues successful this nonfiction you tin find details of organisations that tin assistance via the BBC Action Line.