Police change the way officers respond to mental health incidents

It is part of a national policing initiative aimed at freeing up officers for other duties after liaising with other relevant professionals to ensure the person involved is dealt with appropriately.

Leicestershire Police is joining all forces in the UK to adopt the Right Care Right Person national partnership.

It will lead to a new approach being rolled out where health incidents are dealt with when policing is not always the best agency to respond.

Partners in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland have been made aware of the agreement and that the force will be working closely with them to improve the response to mental health incidents.

While some such incidents do require police attendance, there are a significant number which involve no safety risk or crime.

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.

Estimates show that implementing the principles of Right Care Right Person could save around one million police officer hours each year.

Leicestershire Police Chief Constable, Rob Nixon, said: "I want to work closely with our partners to improve the response we have to mental health incidents.

"In order to effectively police Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland we need to work together to provide the right care and right person is available to those in need.

“One way we can improve is to look at how many hours officers spend waiting with patients in hospital, attending incidents where someone really needs an ambulance, or doing welfare checks for individuals already under the care of a health agency.

"We are in discussions already on how this would look for our area and are working together to see how we can make improvements.”

Explaining more about the new approach, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, CEO at the College of Policing, said: “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 approach will triage incoming calls to police so that the public receives the best response.

"The national agreement will offer support and guidance to call handlers when managing mental health, concerns for welfare and missing persons.”

The Right Care Right Person approach is based on a model developed by Humberside Police in 2021 which has also been implemented by other forces including Lancashire Police, South Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police.

Police forces across England and Wales will begin implementing Right Care Right Person following the toolkit produced by the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Each force will be tasked with developing a bespoke implementation plan and work with local partner agencies to embed the new approach for use locally.