North Yorkshire Council has said it will ensure “suitable provision” is in place for authority-run services amid concern over police no longer attending all mental health call outs.
The government published an agreement with police and NHS this past week, which said forces would no longer attend callouts unless there was a “risk to life”.
The new approach aims to free up force time in order that those experiencing a mental health crisis are “treated by the most appropriate agency”.
However, the initiative has been met by concern with some council officials pointing out that some mental health services are already under pressure.
Richard Webb, North Yorkshire Council’s adult care director, said that while the scheme, called Right Care Right Person, had “good elements” to it, it seemed to ignore the challenges that NHS services face.
In a post on his social media, he said:
“It seems to ignore the unprecedented challenges that many NHS mental health services are facing to deliver current services, let alone absorb more crisis work.”
2/3 local implementation. However, 3 key points for me: 1) it seems to ignore the unprecedentes challenges that many NHS #mentalhealth services are facing to deliver current services, let alone to absorb more crisis work, 2) it needs to engage with councils as a whole, not just https://t.co/RGC5oJTixv
— Richard Webb (@RichardWebbNY) July 28, 2023
He added that the scheme needed to “engage with councils as a whole” as there were implications for young people, housing and public health.
The Stray Ferret asked the council how this agreement would affect services run by the local authority.
In response, Abigail Barron, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director of prevention and service development, said:
“We are working closely with the police and health service partners to ensure that suitable provision is in place to support anyone experiencing a mental health issue.”
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North Yorkshire Police said it had been operating the Right Care Right Person approach since January.
The initiative itself was first devised by Humberside Police in 2019 and was later adopted by other forces across the country.
At the time, Mike Walker, assistant chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said:
“Our commitment to protect the most vulnerable in our communities is not changing and we will still attend where there is an immediate risk to life or a risk of serious harm.
“However, when agencies call us about issues which do not meet the threshold for police intervention under the Right Care, Right Person model, we will signpost them to the most appropriate service to take primacy.
“This puts the individual at the very heart of our decision making and means that a police officer is often not the right person to be providing this care.
“In some cases, we may need to deploy alongside medical or mental health workers where those agencies need to take primacy but there is still a risk to those involved.
“We realise this will mean some big changes for some of our partners, who have become used to calling us to help in these situations.
“That is why we have been working with mental health care providers, NHS representatives, local authorities and the ambulance service to let them know about our plans and give them plenty of time to make changes to the way they work.”
