Campaigners have criticised plans for Metropolitan Police officers to stop attending emergency calls if they are linked to mental health incidents as “alarming”.
The force’s commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has written to health and social care services to say police will no longer attend after August 31 unless there is a threat to life.
The move, first reported by The Guardian, is designed to free up officers to spend more time on their core roles, rather than dealing with patients in need of medical help from experts.
But serious concerns have been raised about what the policy change could mean for vulnerable individuals, with questions raised too about whether it will prove practical on the ground.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that the force needed to “redress the imbalance of responsibility”, noting the considerable amount of time taken up by such incidents.
But a former Inspector of Constabulary warned that the change could lead to a “vacuum” in care and create a “terrible quandary” for members of the public.
Humberside Police introduced a similar policy, known as Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) in 2020, with mental health professionals dealing with calls.
An inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services in November found the switch had saved the force, which has mental health workers from the charity Mind in the force control room, 1,100 police hours per month and said the public received “more timely care from the most appropriate care provider”.
Former Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham, who is also chairwoman of NHS mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk, said that the change was “potentially alarming”.
“I think it would be really, really dangerous if the police were just to unilaterally withdraw from attending mental health crisis calls right now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I don’t think that that’s what’s on the table, but we need to be careful how this plays out to members of the public because of course come the end of August, if your loved one is in mental-health crisis, there’s going to be a terrible quandary.
“You’re going to be worried about calling 999 but on the other hand, they will be simply no one else that you can call, because the infrastructure won’t be in place.”
It was a complex issue, she said, and while there were alternative models to reduce reliance on police all required significant investment.
“It requires infrastructure. It requires resources. And I’d be very surprised if every single mental health trust in London has got all of that up and running by August.”
I think it would be really, really dangerous if the police were just to unilaterally withdraw from attending mental health crisis calls right now— Zoe Billingham
Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind, expressed similar worries and called on the NHS and the Met to “urgently” sit down and work out a plan.
“I am not persuaded we have got enough in the system to tolerate a shift to this new approach. I think we’ve got a huge way to go before the system is working together on behalf of very distressed individuals,” she said.
In his letter, seen by The Guardian, Sir Mark wrote: “It is important to stress the urgency of implementing RCRP in London.
“Every day that we permit the status quo to remain, we are collectively failing patients and are not setting up officers to succeed.”
The extent to which we are collectively failing Londoners and inappropriately placing demand on policing is very stark— Sir Mark Rowley
He continued: “We are failing Londoners twice.
“We are failing them first by sending police officers, not medical professionals, to those in mental health crisis, and expecting them to do their best in circumstances where they are not the right people to be dealing with the patient.
“We are failing Londoners a second time by taking large amounts of officer time away from preventing and solving crime, as well as dealing properly with victims, in order to fill gaps for others.”
Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, welcomed Sir Mark’s commitment to tackling the issue.
But he warned that in reality the day-to-day reaction to mental health incidents would still be in the hands of individual officers.
“I think what the commissioner is trying to get across and I hope this is the point, we spend far too much time just babysitting basically with individuals that we bring in to a place of safety,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He suggested that many calls will likely still be attended to.
“At the end of the day, who makes the decision that you can’t go to something and if God forbid this ended up in a coroner’s court, what does my officer then say? ‘Well the commissioner told me not to go’ and that just wouldn’t stand up because you are solely responsible for what you’re dealing with out on the streets.”
The Met spokesperson said: “Police are compassionate and highly skilled but they are not trained to deliver mental health care and spend an average of 10 hours with a patient when they are sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“In London alone between 500-600 times a month, officers are waiting for this length of time to hand over patients, and it cannot continue.
“We welcome the Government’s attention and support on this issue, as well as increased investment in health provision.
“Work is already under way in London to develop a concordat across health provision and this is very welcome, however in the interests of patients and the public, we urgently need to redress the imbalance of responsibility, where police officers are left delivering health responsibilities.”
