Call for plan to manage health 111s

The police union is warning that social and health services need to urgently come up with a plan because the force won’t be able to keep up with the soaring number of 111 calls for mental health crises.

The number of 111 call-outs for the mentally ill grew by 55% in the past five years and is expected to grow by 10% each year. Police Association president Chris Cahill has repeatedly warned of the dangers of relying on police – who are not mental health specialists – to act as first responders for the mentally ill.

Police Minister Ginny Andersen said she wanted to further roll out an initiative which teams up a police officer with a paramedic and a mental health specialist to respond to a mental health call-out, now operating in some police districts, but hadn’t been given more funding to do so.

‘‘It’s really concerning that people are experiencing mental distress and they need to speak with a health professional. So we need to continue the work . . . to reform our health system so that we have better quality support in place,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s something I’m really keen on seeing how we can push that out further. It was not included in the Budget, but it’s a personal worry for me.’’

Cahill said social and health services needed to urgently come up with a plan to meet the growing demand, especially since the public were demanding a stronger police presence in the streets amid rising shoplifting crimes.

It comes after London’s Metropolitan Police said it would stop responding to mental health callouts except in cases where there was a threat to life, giving social services until September to come up with a strategy to cope.

New Zealand’s police may face the same decision in years to come, if social and health services don’t pick up more slack, he said.

Police should have ‘‘pushed back . . . many years ago’’ at the reliance on officers as first responders for the mentally ill. The call-outs were often very time-consuming and can reduce the force’s ability to respond to victims of crime.

The pressure remains despite a massive $1.9 billion investment into mental health services in the 2019 Budget and another $100 million over four years for community mental health services, including the co-response model in 2022. The police force has also grown by 20% since 2017.

National Party mental health spokesman Matt Doocey, who has worked in mental health and healthcare management, said people seeking emergency help over a mental health crisis should get a health response, not a crime and justice response.