Right Care Right Person: Why the Met will no longer respond to health emergencies
The young police officer had barely started his shift when the first job came through the car radio.
Concerns had been raised about a vulnerable cancer patient suffering from depression who had missed two important hospital appointments, and the police had been asked to perform a welfare check.
PC Liam Cross had very little detail from the call handler. The first address turned out to be wrong.
At the second address, worried neighbours told the police officers they had not seen the man for five weeks.
PC Liam Cross of the Metropolitan Police
Officers from the Metropolitan Police attend a mental health call
But, they added, he did travel abroad regularly to see his family.
After a call to the patient’s doctor the police decide there is nothing more they can do.
“It’s more than likely that he is away on holiday,” PC Cross explains.
“From just speaking with the doctors there, they’re going to follow up next week, give a further phone call, monitor when he next picks up his medication, because he has got enough at the minute.”
The inconclusive search for the missing patient has taken two hours.
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There will be another ten health emergencies called in to PC Cross and his colleagues in this part of north London before his 12-hour shift is over.
Sometimes they can spend the entire day responding to mental health emergencies.
An entire shift can be spent waiting with a patient in a hospital’s emergency department.
It is one of main reasons why the Metropolitan Police will stop responding to health emergencies from 1 November.
Thousands of police hours will be reclaimed allowing officers to spend more time policing London’s streets. But they insist they will still respond to the most serious emergencies.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist is the London force’s lead on implementing the Right Care Right Person policy.
He told Sky News: “Where there is a risk to life, where a crime has been committed, or where there’s a risk to breach the peace, the police will always still attend.
“Where it’s purely a health care issue, where we are not the best people to attend, we would want the best people to attend, which are healthcare professionals.”
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist
Mental health experts largely agree.
Sending uniformed officers to deal with someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis can often exacerbate the situation.
And police officers are not trained mental health experts.
The NHS denies this change has been forced on them by Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who set today’s deadline.
The health service says it has been working very closely with the Met to ensure a smooth transition. But it also stresses that the change must be phased and gradual.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley. File pic
The police will be supported by a new 24/7 advice service for police officers to seek guidance from mental health specialists when they attend an incident before they decide to detain an individual under section 136.
The NHS says its own data shows that some eight in 10 people who are sectioned in London would benefit from community support rather than a hospital admission.
Martin Machray, Director of Performance, NHS London said: “Today, what we see is the introduction of a shared telephone number where we can give advice to the police about what to do if they feel they’ve got a person in front of them with a mental health crisis.
“That doesn’t mean always putting handcuffs on them and taking them to an A&E department.”
Despite the assurances from the police and the NHS, there are real fears that vulnerable people will be left exposed and at risk of harm when the police withdraw their response service.
These concerns come at a time when mental health services are at breaking point and the NHS faces up to the pressure and challenges of another difficult winter.
“There is concern that that isn’t going to be properly funded,” warned Brian Dow, the deputy chief executive of charity Rethink Mental Illness.
He told Sky News: “There are still some people, notably those people who are feeling at risk of suicide and who go missing, that the police won’t be called out to.
“And that is a concern because those are the very most vulnerable people who could fall through the cracks.”
UK
Specialist teams and online investigators deployed across England and Wales to tackle ‘national emergency’ of violence against women and girls
Specialist investigation teams for rape and sexual offences are to be created across England and Wales as the Home Secretary declares violence against women and girls a “national emergency”.
Shabana Mahmood said the dedicated units will be in place across every force by 2029 as part of Labour’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy due to be launched later this week.
The use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs), which had been trialled in several areas, will also be rolled out across England and Wales. They are designed to target abusers by imposing curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones.
The orders cover all forms of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, stalking and ‘honour’-based abuse. Breaching the terms can carry a prison term of up to 5 years.
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Govt ‘thinking again’ on abuse strategy
Nearly £2m will also be spent funding a network of officers to target offenders operating within the online space.
Teams will use covert and intelligence techniques to tackle violence against women and girls via apps and websites.
A similar undercover network funded by the Home Office to examine child sexual abuse has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators.
Abuse is ‘national emergency’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement: “This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.
“For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.
“Today we announce a range of measures to bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide.”
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The target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade is a Labour manifesto pledge.
The government said the measures build on existing policy, including facial recognition technology to identify offenders, improving protections for stalking victims, making strangulation a criminal offence and establishing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.
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Labour has ‘failed women’
But the Conservatives said Labour had “failed women” and “broken its promises” by delaying the publication of the violence against women and girls strategy.
Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said that Labour “shrinks from uncomfortable truths, voting against tougher sentences and presiding over falling sex-offender convictions. At every turn, Labour has failed women.”
There have been no migrant arrivals in small boats crossing the Channel for 28 days, according to Home Office figures.
The last recorded arrivals were on 14 November, making it the longest uninterrupted run since autumn 2018 after no reported arrivals on Friday.
However, a number of Border Force vessels were active in the English Channel on Saturday morning, indicating that there may be arrivals today.
So far, 39,292 people have crossed to the UK aboard small boats this year – already more than any other year except 2022.
The record that year was set at 45,774 arrivals.
It comes as the government has stepped up efforts in recent months to deter people from risking their lives crossing the Channel – but measures are not expected to have an impact until next year.
Debris of a small boat used by people thought to be migrants to cross the Channel lays amongst the sand dunes in Gravelines, France. Pic: PA
December is normally one of the quietest for Channel crossings, with a combination of poor visibility, low temperatures, less daylight and stormy weather making the perilous journey more difficult.
The most arrivals recorded in the month of December is 3,254, in 2024.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy met with ministers from other European countries this week as discussions over possible reform to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) continue.
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France agrees to start intercepting small boats
The issue of small boat arrivals – a very small percentage of overall UK immigration – has become a salient issue in British politics in recent years.
Last month, French maritime police announced they would soon be able to intercept boats in the English Channel.
The King has shared in a television address that, thanks to early diagnosis, his cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year.
In a televised address, Charles said his “good news” was “thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to doctors’ orders”.
“This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years,” he added.
“Testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”
The King announced in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer and was beginning treatment.
The monarch postponed all public-facing engagements, but continued with his duties as head of state behind palace walls, conducting audiences and Privy Council meetings.
He returned to public duties in April last year and visited University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in central London with the Queen and discussed his “shock” at being diagnosed when he spoke to a fellow cancer patient.
Sources suggested last December his treatment would continue in 2025 and was “moving in a positive direction”.
The King began returning to public duties in April last year. File pic: PA
The King has chosen not to reveal what kind of cancer he has been treated for. Palace sources have partly put that down to the fact that he doesn’t want one type of cancer to appear more significant or attract more attention than others.
In a statement after the speech aired, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “His Majesty has responded exceptionally well to treatment and his doctors advise that ongoing measures will now move into a precautionary phase.”
Sir Keir Starmer praised the video message as “a powerful message,” and said: “I know I speak for the entire country when I say how glad I am that his cancer treatment will be reduced in the new year.
“Early cancer screening saves lives.”
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Watch: King Charles gives update on treatment
Early detection can give ‘the precious gift of hope’
His message on Friday was broadcast at 8pm in support of Stand Up To Cancer, a joint campaign by Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.
In an appeal to people to get screened for the disease early, the King said: “I know from my own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming.
“Yet I also know that early detection is the key that can transform treatment journeys, giving invaluable time to medical teams – and, to their patients, the precious gift of hope. These are gifts we can all help deliver.”
Charles noted that “at least nine million people in our country are not up to date with the cancer screenings available to them,” adding: “That is at least nine million opportunities for early diagnosis being missed.
“The statistics speak with stark clarity. To take just one example: When bowel cancer is caught at the earliest stage, around nine in ten people survive for at least five years.
“When diagnosed late, that falls to just one in ten. Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives.”
Minor inconvenience of screening ‘a small price to pay’
The King acknowledged that people often avoid screening “because they imagine it may be frightening, embarrassing or uncomfortable”. But, he added: “If and when they do finally take up their invitation, they are glad they took part.
“A few moments of minor inconvenience are a small price to pay for the reassurance that comes for most people when they are either told either they don’t need further tests, or, for some, are given the chance to enable early detection, with the life-saving intervention that can follow.”
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Giving his “most heartfelt thanks” to doctors, nurses, researchers and charity workers, the King added: “As I have observed before, the darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion. But compassion must be paired with action.
“This December, as we gather to reflect on the year past, I pray that we can each pledge, as part of our resolutions for the year ahead, to play our part in helping to catch cancer early.
“Your life – or the life of someone you love – may depend upon it.”
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