Mental Health agreement “a huge step forward” for policing and improved care

Matthew Barber, Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner, has welcomed the new national agreement announced today to improve the emergency response to mental health calls.

Calling the move “A huge step forward”, Matthew Barber praised the work that will see vulnerable people receiving the support they need from specialist services, not the police, under the national roll-out of the Right Care, Right Person model.

The scheme will see the NHS and other agencies step in when a person is in crisis, saying it is critical to reducing the strain on police forces across the country.  

The Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care has today announced a National Partnership Agreement that will pre-empt the implementation of Right Care, Right Person. The government estimates that the scheme could save one million hours of police time in England every year.

Locally both Thames Valley Police and the Police & Crime Commissioner continuing to work with in mental health care, hospitals, social services and the ambulance service, learning from Humberside, where Right Care, Right Person launched five years ago.

There is the potential to save a million hours of police time across the country as well as improve the care for those in crisis. This is a challenge that we have been striving to tackle for some time and the national agreement presents a real opportunity to get the right care for the right person and to allow the police to focus on the public’s priority of tackling crime!”

“This isn’t something that will be rushed – we are committed to working closely with our partners to implement these changes and ensure vulnerable people receive the right care, from the right person.”