Consultants increase alarm over Met Police plan to attend fewer psychological well being calls
The psychological well being disaster wants a severe injection of sources, specialists say, after the Met Police stated it might cease attending incidents involving sufferers.
The power will solely reply if there may be a right away menace to life.
It comes after it emerged officers spend 10,000 hours a month coping with mental-health points.
Nationally, officers spend 1,000,000 hours a yr ready for psychological well being sufferers to be assessed.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley seems to have misplaced endurance with the “right care, right person” scheme. The capital’s power will cease responding after August 31.
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In a letter to well being and social care companies, he stated officers had been “failing Londoners twice” by carrying on the apply. Not solely had been they doing the work of well being professionals, they had been being diverted from stopping and fixing crime.
He wrote: “To illustrate further the pressing need for reform, on April 28/29 the Met received the highest number of 999 calls we have ever taken – 9,292. Only 30 percent were classed as crime related.”
However, Andy Bell, of suppose tank Centre for Mental Health, stated: “There’s a growing situation because we know there are more people getting to mental health crisis point. Mental health has got worse in the last year. Years of austerity in social
services mean people aren’t getting help as early as they should.”
Zoe Billingham, former Inspector of Constabulary, who can also be chairwoman of NHS psychological well being companies in Norfolk and Suffolk, stated it might be “really, really dangerous” for the police to unilaterally withdraw from attending psychological well being incidents.
Sarah Hughes, chief govt of psychological well being charity Mind, stated: “We are not in a fit-for-purpose state, to go straight to this policy.”
It usually takes as much as 14 hours for police handy a affected person over to medical employees, in accordance with Mr Rowley.
In Humberside, police work alongside professionals from Mind within the management room to resolve whether or not officers must attend incidents.
This has saved 1,100 police hours monthly, reclaiming seven p.c of officer time to struggle crime.