Ambulance chiefs criticise police over Right Care Right Person programme

Ambulance chiefs have attacked the police’s implementation of a programme that reduces their involvement in mental health emergency callouts.

Under the Right Care Right Person (RCRP) initiative, the police refuse to attend emergency calls relating to mental health crises, because they believe mental health patients should be attended by medical professionals. The police would still attend under circumstances where there was a risk to a person’s safety.

The scheme was originally piloted by Humber Teaching NHS Trust and Humberside police, but in July 2023 the Home Office announced that police forces across the country would be able to roll out Right Care Right Person with their NHS trusts. The Metropolitan Police began implementing the initiative in November last year.

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), however, told the Independent that ambulance services have now been involved in eight inquests where RCRP has been used by police. In those inquests, the coroner has “raised significant concerns about gaps in service provision relating to welfare calls.”

Humberside police reviewing patient deaths

In a letter to Steve Brine, chair of the Commons Health Committee, the AACE, which represents all ambulance trust chiefs in the country, said: “To date this is the single biggest feedback theme we have heard from ambulance services, with some control room staff describing feeling like they’re in a ‘high stakes game of chicken’ where the police have refused to attend and told the caller to hang up, redial 999 and ask for an ambulance.”

AACE said that London Ambulance Services are now receiving 200-250 calls a day which have been transferred from the police.

Humberside Police told the Independent it is reviewing four patient deaths, in addition to three reviewed last year, linked to Right Care Right Person. In the three reviewed last year, the force said it found no concerns over the initiative.

It said: “Nearly all of these people do legitimately have a healthcare need and the NHS is better placed to meet this than the police were, but most of the patients did not need an emergency ambulance.”

The AACE said there has been an “excessive over-application” of Right Care Right Person from some forces. One service claimed that since March last year staff have raised concerns over 160 incidents with RCRP as the main factor.

It said: “We are concerned by reports from ambulance services of occasions where the police have not attended incidents when requested to provide support that have subsequently resulted in patient harm or ambulance clinicians being assaulted.”

People are ‘falling through the gaps’

Gemma Byrne, policy and campaigns manager at mental health charity Mind, said: “These reports from frontline ambulance staff are extremely troubling. When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis they need timely and effective care as soon as possible. We know the police are not always the most appropriate people to support someone in these situations, but keeping people safe is part of core police business and this can’t change: an emergency is an emergency.”

She added: “We are extremely worried about the pace at which Right Care Right Person is being rolled out across the country and how the changes will play out in practice. We know that many agencies have faced decades of underfunding and are struggling to keep pace with the surge in demand for mental health support. But at the centre of this are people in a deeply distressing mental health crisis, and we cannot risk people falling through the gaps between agencies.”

Byrne called on the government to slow down the roll-out of Right Care Right Person, and “allow the time and funding necessary to ensure agencies can work together to put the needs of people with mental health problems first.”