Right Care, Right Person is a scheme by Humberside Police, that (as Professional Security heard at a Chatham House rule briefing by the Institute of Strategic Risk Management this week) has also been taken up by Lancashire Police.
Below is from the official police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection of Humberside Police, published last month, that rated the force as ‘outstanding’ in six areas, ‘good’ in two areas and ‘adequate’ in one area (by contrast, the force came out of ‘special measures’ in 2018).
“The force analysed its mental health and concern for welfare incidents and found that they were increasing. This was having a significant impact on the force’s ability to respond to other calls for service, such as domestic abuse. The force told us that a substantial number of calls it received were from health or care settings, including 25,000 concerns for welfare calls per year. This accounted for 11 percent of overall demand and an increase of 27 percent over two years.
“The force worked with mental health and NHS services to establish who had the legal duty towards vulnerable people seeking help. It then decided which service was best positioned to provide care according to the needs of the individual. A service-level agreement was signed by all parties, with the caveat that any risk to life would always receive a police response. The programme was introduced in four phases during 2020 and 2021.
“The force has evaluated its Right Care, Right Person programme. It has found that, along with the public receiving more timely care from the most appropriate care provider, the programme has led to efficiency savings of 1,100 police hours per month. This has been invested back into protecting vulnerable people. The force was the national winner of the UK Police Service of the Year 2022 award at the iESE Public Sector Transformation Awards.”
In response to the rating, Humberside Chief Constable Lee Freeman noted that no longer does the force send a police officer to those experiencing a mental health crisis, enabling a saving of more than 1,000 hours per month that’s redeployed back into ‘traditional policing to support victims of crime’. He also said: “Protecting vulnerable people is a real priority for us and so many of the calls we get now involve people who are vulnerable – such as the very young or elderly, those who have mental health challenges, or those who simply find themselves in a position where they cannot protect themselves from harm. We have transformed our services in this area and restructured our teams to make them more effective.”
