Plans to change the way 999 calls are handled across Staffordshire have been met with caution.
Staffordshire Police will join the national Right Care Right Person agreement which sees some emergency calls passed on to other authorities and organisations where a police officer may not be deemed the most appropriate to attend.
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison said the move would allow police to prioritise their resources.
“Right Care Right Person is about us working with other partners to divert calls to the appropriate agency to make sure someone who might be in a vulnerable state, due to mental health or other issues, gets a suitably trained practitioner in the right time to support them – rather than a police officer turning out routinely, which is what we have been doing.
“It’s about providing the right support and making sure police officers are free to do what the public would expect police officers to do.
“What I would say to reassure people is that we will make absolutely sure that where there is an immediate threat to life, we will be responding.”
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison
But the British Psychological Association (BPS) says that while it welcomes the new proposals – which are earmarked to begin in February 2024 – they are “extremely concerned” about the implementation.
Dr Roman Raczka, BPS president-elect and chair of the division of clinical psychology, said:
“We absolutely agree that the vast majority of people in mental health crisis should be supported by trained mental health practitioners, and not the police.
“However, to withdraw police support within the next two years, at a time when mental health services are already stretched beyond capacity and under resourced after years of chronic underfunding, is simply dangerous.
“The promised investment in mental health services will not deliver trained mental health staff to the frontline overnight, particularly bearing in mind the NHS’s well-documented recruitment and retention issues.
“We’re extremely concerned that people in crisis will fall between the gaps with potentially catastrophic consequences, with even greater risks to children and young people.
“It’s vital that all mental health trusts receive adequate funding to do this, and that realistic and achievable timeframes are in place to resource and safely deliver this plan across England.”
Dr Roman Raczka