Police withdraw mental health warnings announced

As the police begin to gradually reduce their response to mental health calls, medical personnel are expected to take steps in this direction as well. Here’s what you need to know.

Led by New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora, changes to police mental health response were announced in early 2024 and will be phased in over five years. Police have already approved the first four phases, which will be completed by September 2025; This phase will involve a gradual reduction of resources and time spent on low-risk and crime-free mental health calls, with the end goal of the first year being for police to use only those needed. 15 minutes to hand over patients to emergency department (ED) staff. The health-focused intervention is expected to pick up where the police left off.

The first phase started this month; It began this month with the introduction of higher thresholds for mental health transfer requests and reducing the time it takes for police to voluntarily transfer mental health care (in which people request to undertake it), as well as attending mental health facilities before the police agree to take part. mental health assessment with health professionals). Police emphasize that they will continue to respond to incidents that constitute criminal activity or where there is an immediate risk to life or safety.

Why are the police doing this?

In order to “relieve demand pressure”, they say police should focus more on situations that pose an immediate risk to life and safety, by reprioritising where they spend time and resources. Attending mental health-related events, according to police data 11% of all disclosures In the 12 months to May 2024, this figure has increased by: 64% in the last five years.

In August, the then police commissioner Andrew Costner He said the force receives a mental health-related call every seven minutes, resulting in “approximately half a million hours of police time spent on the front line a year” and that only 5% of those calls were criminal. “It has been clear to me for some time that this is not sustainable and hinders our ability to keep other areas of society safe,” Costner said in a statement. “It impacts our ability to deliver basic policing.”

A police briefing to the Home Secretary said reducing the “criminal justice response to many mental health-related calls” was also in line with Kia Manawanui, the whole government mental health plan, and would “minimize trauma and coercive treatments”. Police in July. “Most people in distress do not want the police to attend their events unless absolutely necessary,” the briefing said. “People experiencing mental distress deserve to have the right people helping them.”

While the briefing acknowledged that reducing attendance “could create a reputational risk due to the perception that the Police do not care”, it was stated that they were not the best agency to respond to a mental health incident. “Limiting police-led interventions can have a positive impact by reducing the stigma around mental health and preventing a health event from being mistakenly criminalized. In addition, it is likely to result in increased police visibility in the community, contributing to a greater perception of safety.”

What are the next steps?

Phase two, originally planned to start in January 2025 but now postponed until MarchEmergency department handovers will last 60 minutes, with police leaving hospital emergency departments within one hour after transporting a person detained under the Mental Health Act. Mental health custody rules will also be tightened to ensure people at risk are not unnecessarily assessed in police custody.

The third phase, originally planned for April-June, involves a higher threshold to respond to requests from healthcare workers and to address reports of missing mental health patients. Regarding the second change, police said these reports will attract more attention than other missing person reports and that police will work with agencies to create a new approach that will include police not being the first to start searching.

In the fourth phase, planned for July-September, emergency service handover times will be reduced to 15 minutes and frontline officers are expected to be less responsive to welfare check requests from the public and institutions. “Police are over-responding to welfare checks where there is no risk of crime or risk to life or safety,” the statement said. “We aim to reduce demand on frontline staff but recognize that the issues are complex, so we will continue to speak to partner agencies before making any final decisions.”

Police minister Mark Mitchell and mental health minister Matt Doocey are expected to discuss stages two to five with the Cabinet in November.

Who will help now?

Medical personnel will now be considered first responders to mental health calls. Including these employees may have already completed a full shiftThey will be expected to respond to out-of-hours calls and transport patients for hospital admission with little or no police assistance.

Te Whatu Ora documents Obtained by Stuff Last week showed that standard operating procedures (SOPs) for medical personnel responding to mental health calls have not yet been finalized. Interim SOPs outline the main expectations before police attend a mental health call, including de-escalation techniques, medical or pharmaceutical intervention, use of security teams or families to assist, providing care to a person in a low-stimulus area, and removing staff and other individuals from the area. He drew the lines. . Murray Patton, Te Whatu Ora’s interim national clinical lead for mental health and addiction, said SOPs would be finalized as changes were implemented and staff provided feedback.

Some medical staff take on extra responsibilities as duly authorized officers (DOAs), who are expected to ensure that the necessary procedures are followed when carrying out a mandatory assessment under the Mental Health Act. A. RNZ report On Monday, it found at least half a dozen DOAs had lost their extra duties ahead of changes to police response to mental health calls due to safety concerns. Te Whatu Ora said this was “a very small fraction of the total number of DAOs in that area and this does not appear to be happening elsewhere.”

What do police and healthcare professionals think?

The police have repeatedly defended their decision to change their response to police calls, with the argument that resources are taken away from criminal business and that the police are not always the appropriate force to respond to a mental health crisis. The Police Union has petitioned for changes in the past and last year lobbied the government for a police response similar to the UK. Right Care, Right Person The approach to mental health is another model that sees the police reduce their involvement in these situations and instead treat medical staff as first responders.

New Zealand Nurses Organization criticized The changes come with the warning that mental health services are already overstretched and many nurses lack the legal authority to detain people and the tools to keep themselves safe in the event of a crisis. A survey conducted by NZNO found that 90% of respondents believed that without police they and their patients would be at greater risk. Another survey by the Public Service Association of mental health workers found that nine in 10 workers believed they and their patients would now be at greater risk.

“This was a disaster; the police had said this was going to happen months and months ago.” said NZNO CEO Rob Goulter. “Obviously Te Whatu Ora was so caught up in its own internal problems that it passed them by.

“Still trying to resolve the issue at the last minute at this critical juncture when there is a critical health and safety risk to patients and staff… this is unacceptable.”

Yesterday afternoon Te Whatu Ora released a statement saying a phased implementation plan was in place and acknowledged: ““Changes like this are not easy and we recognize there will be an adjustment period.”

“We value the work of our employees throughout this transition process and emphasize that we do not want staff to put themselves in risky situations,” the statement said. “Teams should continue to follow the usual processes, including shared decision-making, seeking the support of senior staff for advice and escalating issues as necessary.”

Te Whatu Ora seemingly faces its own challenges A deficit of 1.7 billion dollars is expected As of June 2025, this is due to excessive spending on nurse recruitment. healthcare workers against the motu to have continuously reported We have been talking about personnel and resource shortages for years. This also includes: shortage of mental health workersA topic that Te Whatu Ora plans to cover Mental Health Workforce Plan The plan, which aims to increase the number of mental health and addiction nurses by 85% by 2025 to a total of 22 specialists receiving training every year, was published in September.

Who else has concerns?

Mental Health Foundation He supports the concept of health-focused intervention, but in September he wrote to police minister Mark Mitchell expressing “serious concerns” about the “rapid withdrawal of police” given that he had “seen no concrete response from New Zealand’s Department of Health about how the health situation is” wrote a letter. Apart from the commitment to “put a robust operational plan in place”, the system will be able to fill the gap in acute mental health crisis delivery, given the unprecedented demand and severe workforce shortage.

Sarah Gordon, associate professor at the University of Waitako School of Health, shared a similar sentiment. Comments made to Science Media Center“An unintended consequence of this plan is that people experiencing mental distress may not be able to access help at all. “These lines in the sand reducing police services must be matched by others being prepared and having the ability to increase services.”