New mental health triage service pilot with the police | Our News

New mental health triage service pilot with the police

police car

The exciting new service, funded by a number of mental health commissioners and the Office of Police and Crime Commissioners, launched on 15 December 2016 operating between the hours of 15:00 and 23:00. It will see mental health nurses and paramedics support police officers to incidents where it’s believed people need immediate mental health support. 

It will aim to ensure people who need mental health care get the right support and at the same time reduce demand on the emergency services. The idea is for police and mental health services to work in partnership with each other to help deliver improved care for those experiencing a mental health crisis.  At the inception of the service it will operate every day, except Mondays, from the control of West Mercia Police at their Hindlip Headquarters.

The pilot follows other services that have been introduced elsewhere in the country which have already had a positive impact on keeping people out of custodial settings and reducing the demands on valuable police time.

Mental Health Nurses with significant experience in community mental health and crisis mental health will support the police along with other members of staff who have worked on other police triage services.

Josie Spencer, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations, says “The Trust has been providing a similar triage service in Coventry for the past two years. We are delighted to now be launching this service with Warwickshire & West Mercia Police force. We are confident it will assist service users to receive the right support at the right time, whilst aiding the police. The support and guidance will appropriately signpost service users to mental health services both in the statutory and non-statutory sectors. Working with other partners will help develop and nurture relationships within the local area to ensure the appropriate care is being provided when people need it most.”

Following the six month pilot, a range of data will be collected to form an evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the scheme and consider what has worked well, what can be improved and the future of the pilot.

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