A new approach for mental health 999 call outs
SAM VOLPE on a new approach to helping people with mental health difficulties
LEADING North East health and political figures have spoken about moving away from a “blue light” response to mental health crisis, instead focusing on care in the community.
Speaking to The Journal at a new mental health “safe haven” in Northumberland, the chief executive of the Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust James Duncan and Kim McGuinness – at that point Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, but now North East Mayor – both discussed how mental health “safe havens” and the new “Right Care Right Person” approach which sees police no longer responding to mental health calls and instead referring those in need to a different service - embody the beginnings of much-needed change.
Mr Duncan said: “We are starting to break down the silos and the barriers [between public and voluntary sector organisations] - and for me this - safe havens - is part of the revolution in mental health. It’s where we should be.”
Right Care Right Person has been operating in the Northumbria Police force area since December. The idea is that police officers are not the most appropriate people to be attending mental health call outsand that it’s also not the best use of the stretched resources of our police.
Instead, now when a mental health call is answered by the police’s call handlers, they will refer the person calling to a more appropriate support service - though will continue to attend calls involving a crime or risk to life. In that police control room, a pilot programme has also seen mental health support workers from charity Everyturn embedded, in order to ensure people in need receive the support they require.
Mr Duncan added: “We have great partnerships with the police - and we need them for something like this. It’s about making sure we don’t stigmatise mental health and mental illness.
“Right Care Right Person at its essence is about making sure that
someone does get the support they need at the right time. There’s a danger that if not done well, that could stigmatise mental health.”
He said it was vital to ensure that was not the case by carefully monitoring how the new approach operates.
Ms McGuinness said a community-led approach to mental health crisis was the right way to go. She added: “We know through the Northumbria Police contact centre we have seen a 152% increase in people contacting us in crisis. That shows that the services that should be there for people have not been there.
“The police have become a service of last resort. Places like this can become where someone refers themselves, or can be referred to by a GP or A&E. This is a much better service for people in crisis to get the support they need.
“Rather than where we are at the moment with a blue light response where a police officer comes with a high-viz jacket and a taser. That doesn’t serve anyone well.
“We have - alongside Everyturn put mental health workers in the control room sitting alongside our call handlers. We know that’s not the whole of the answer. What we need is more support in the community. I will keep banging that drum with the Government, but what we are able to do locally is be proactive.”
The mental health support workers in the police control room are
there in order to provide one-to-one support and “immediate, practical” help and advice to those in crisis Adam Crampsie, chief executive of Everyturn Mental Health, added: “We are delighted to be working closely with Northumbria Police to make sure people in mental health crisis receive the right support.
“No-one should struggle alone, particularly when they are in crisis, and it’s only right that the first response to someone in crisis should be a trained mental health professional. By embedding our personcentred, non-clinical team in the Northumbria Police control room, it will help provide a human response to people in need, as well as relieve pressure on our local police teams.”
Another of the public sector organisations involved in the new policy is the ambulance service. In a report discussing the issue last month, North East Ambulance Service’s board was told: “Right Care Right Person (RCRP) continues to be the highest priority in the Mental Health delivery programme. A project group has been established with task and finish groups commencing in January 2024 to ensure that the project is well supported.”
In a report, North East Ambulance Service bosses said that as the police withdrew from responding to “inappropriate calls”, the ambulance service was working to ensure “transition” of those calls and there was also work ongoing with the region’s mental health trusts.