Scots overwhelmingly believe that health and social care services should support people suffering from poor mental health, rather than police officers.
A new opinion poll found that only four per cent think cops are the most important responders in this situation, prompting a warning that “too often police are left to pick up the pieces of the crisis in our NHS”.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance, a former mental health worker, said she recognises the “real pressure” on policing – and acknowledged that officers “are not, and nor are they expected to be, mental health and wellbeing experts”.
She told the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) conference that “we are building the system where people get the right help from the right system at the right time, no matter where they are or what time of the day they present”.
But SPF chair David Threadgold said: “Police officers are untrained in health. Our involvement can have an extremely negative impact on the citizen concerned and these interactions are having a crippling impact on our ability to deliver policing in this country.”
The new poll was carried out by Survation for 1919 Magazine.
Respondents were asked to think about people suffering from poor mental health who require an intervention, and to pick from a list of public services which one they think is the most important to support people in this situation.
Just over a quarter (26 per cent) selected community health services, such as district nursing and health visitors, while 23 per cent chose social care services.
Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur
The primary care service, which includes GPs, was picked by 21 per cent, and seven per cent opted for secondary care services, such as hospitals.
At the bottom of the list was council services (six per cent) and police services (four per cent).
Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “Too often police are left to pick up the pieces of the crisis in our NHS.
“People should be able to access mental health support before reaching crisis point.
“In an emergency, there needs to be a joined-up approach between different services to ease pressure on police and give people the best possible support.
“Recent work being done by the NHS and Police Scotland has shown positive results and we need to build on this progress.
“The SNP must improve mental health services so that people can get the help they need and must support continued co-ordination between different services.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur added: “Too often, the police are left as the emergency service of last resort. This is not in the interests of the individuals concerned and takes up huge amounts of valuable police time and resources.
“Fundamentally, these kinds of incidents are falling to the police because of a failure by the Scottish Government to invest sufficiently in the network of mental health support.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently argued for ministers to roll out more mental health officers to work alongside the police. That’s how we can achieve the right balance of supporting officers while also making sure people get the care and treatment they need.”
In his speech to the SPF conference, Threadgold said officers will always attend emergency calls and provide an initial response to those in acute crisis.
However, he warned that the “handover to suitably trained healthcare professionals is broken and it is hamstringing our ability to deliver policing in this country”.
“We are steadfast in our view that the solution is not to provide enhanced mental health training to police officers or to increase the powers available to detain people from within their home addresses,” he continued.
“Members of our community who suffer health problems deserve to be treated by qualified staff who can actually assist them in their progress towards recovery.”
“I recognise that responding to mental health related incidents puts real pressure on policing”
Justice Secretary Angela Constance
Threadgold acknowledged the work underway by Police Scotland and partners to tackle the issue, and Chief Constable Jo Farrell also outlined to the conference that “we’re referring more calls to C3 [contact command and control] to health colleagues so people get better care from the right people and reducing those calls coming through to shifts”.
She added: “We’re building up connections in communities to get psychiatric support in place and get officers out of accident and emergency.”
Constance told 1919: “I recognise that responding to mental health related incidents puts real pressure on policing and I am grateful to officers for all they do to help those in distress.
“In partnership with Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, health boards and local authorities, we are driving forward actions to ensure people get the right help, from the right service, at the right time to drive this down.
“Through recent actions, Police Scotland’s control centre has diverted over 10,600 calls to NHS 24’s mental health hub, freeing up 54,328 officer hours.
“There is a ‘Distress Brief Intervention’ in every health and social care partnership, letting officers and call handlers refer people directly and cutting unnecessary callouts.
“In addition, a new triage pathway means police officers can contact a mental health clinician to get advice on the best course of action if they attend an incident that has a mental distress aspect to it, resulting in reduced attendance at emergency departments and quicker handover times to other health professionals.”