Police in England to attend fewer mental-health calls
England’s police officers will no longer respond to concerns about mental health if there is no risk to life or crime being committed, under new plans.
The government says the policy will save millions of hours of police time. But there is concern from mental health groups over what they say could be a “dangerous” change.
At the moment, some police forces in England and Wales attend 80% of so-called health and social care incidents. The plans will expect to reduce this to between 20 and 30% over two years.
The government says it is providing an extra £1bn a year, including £150m for facilities to replace police officers, including:
- specialist mental-health ambulances
- extra capacity for treating patients
- “crisis cafes”, where people struggling to cope can drop in for help
And 999-call handlers are being trained to assess a request for officers to attend and decide whether:
- someone’s life is at risk
- there is a threat to the public
- a possible crime is being committed
But Mind chief executive Dr Sarah Hughes said mental-health services were “not resourced to step up overnight”.
