PSYCHIATRISTS ‘SURPRISED AND CONCERNED’ BY MET POLICE NO-SHOW THREAT

[THE Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has responded to a report in The Guardian on 29 May, that the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has plans to order officers not to attend 999 calls about mental health incidents. It follows a lack of progress in implementing a procedure known as ‘Right Care, Right Person’ – a procedure already in place in some parts of the country.

The Guardian report quotes Sir Mark as saying: “In fact, 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.”

The report says the Commissioner has given health and social care services in the capital a deadline of 31 August before the force starts its ban, which will only be waived if a threat to life is feared.

Commenting on the reports, RCPsych president Dr Adrian James said: “We have a great deal of sympathy with the Met police as their challenges mirror those of the mental health workforce. They are under a huge amount of pressure while at the same time being chronically under resourced. Therefore, while the best solution to many of the issues we both encounter is more resources, we do understand the need to make the best use of those that we have. However, in doing this we must all make sure we do not forget our duty to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

“That is why we are surprised and concerned by the unilateral declaration by Sir Mark Rowley to withdraw the police from attending emergencyrelated mental health incidents by the end of August. This presents a number of issues and concerns that simply cannot be resolved in this timescale. For example, the police are the only service to hold certain legal powers to convey a disturbed person from public places to a place of safety and so they are likely to always be needed when people are in acute crisis.

“It is simply unhelpful and impractical to make decisions like these before we have worked out what will happen in some very concerning situations, both for patients with mental illness, but also for the public and police officers alike.” q