ks.234
Half way to Infinity
I take your point, as someone married to a Care professional I am fully aware of the massive shortcomings in our Care system and the cuts imposed that means that serious mental health issues do not get properly assessed.No. It is not the job of police to be a substitute for the NHS or social care when having to deal with a person suffering with an acute mental health crisis, if so apparent. Street triage very capably filled this gap(and continues to do so in Notts), by having a mental health nurse with an officer, to professionally assess capability (MCA) and symptoms in this regard. Officers are not properly equipped to assess in this regard - the nurse is, as is a S12 approved medic. By correctly assessing at incidents, you can clearly reduce inappropriate detentions under S136 MHA eg when a person might be faking MH issues (sadly, it does happen), or the genuine crisis that a service user may be in. I instigated and delivered MCA training on 2015, and officers and staff said it was a real eye-opener. Especially that the appropriately qualified professional is the right person to assess.
If a person is suspected of committing an offence, and MH symptoms are apparent, then a substantive assessment will be required by a so qualified nurse (initially), then a suitably qualified medic. If the medic or nurse is of the professional opinion the suspect is suffering such a crisis, then they can be so detained under S2/3 MHA for treatment. Very rarely happens. Officers in some cases used to bin a job before this assessment was complete, and then had to rescue evidence once the medic confirmed the suspect wasn’t so acute. I/we put that right, so there was more balance and victim focus, as well a service-user focus in individual cases.
In term of stats, they spoke for themselves. Before I left - 80% reduction in inappropriate detention under S136, massive increase in faster referrals for MH crisis care etc etc. But we got the recording right from the start
See above. Apologies for the long response.
https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/street-triage
https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/case-studies/crisis-mental-health-case-studies/notts/
The last link should help those reading who like evidence.
My personal view is the above works very effectively, and continues to do so. To pull the plug completely, without control measures, risks harm to some of the most vulnerable members of society.
However, given we are where we are and that insufficient funding of Care means that people with mental health issues are not managed properly, it seems a neglect of duty for the police not to deal with the issues when they get into the public sphere.
Of the police are trying to highlight the underfunding of care, they should do so directly. Perhaps they should show common cause with the underfunding of public services?