But why don’t police do welfare checks anymore

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Apparently they only do them if the person is in immediate danger. If it is a suspected medical emergency you call for an ambulance otherwise if no one has heard from them or can get in contact you have to report as a missing person….
erm why? This is madness, what if it was an elderly person you see regularly but then you don’t. Then call them but no answer, call round their house no answer after a couple of months no answer? Police say you have to call for ambulance first
why????

Well just a few weeks ago the police put my son as a cat 1 and as far as I knew, no immediate danger. I couldn't get hold of him, he's been severely depressed.
No talk of an ambulance, no talk of anything you have listed.
Maybe it's areas.

I'm not going to elaborate further, but they were brilliant.

I think they are being used too much in lieu of the NHS. DC is severely depressed, multiple suicide attempts, gets violent. A&E keep sending us home and we have been told at numerous occasions by the NHS service that are supposed to help that they don't have the resources and if we are too worried or DC gets too violent, to call police. it's frankly ridiculous. The cops cannot provide intense MH services. I am not surprised that they are cutting this back.

Because it's low priority compared to trying to bring down crime statistics. They do still do it sometimes though.
But realistically they can't start breaking down everyone's front door if they haven't made contact with anyone for a few days.

They do.

DH's work asked for a welfare check only yesterday when an employee failed to turn up for work and could not be contacted. Police attended quickly.

I’d imagine it’s due to resources. They like all services are very short staffed and being used to plug the gap in social work / mental health support when they are far from experts. If you look up right care, right person, it explains a bit better.

I'm guessing for the same reason they are trying not to deal with mental health call-outs too. Not enough staff to do basic policing ie shoplifting.

I knew someone who worked in 'response' in a city (that's the policeman that come out when you call 999. The shortage of staff was really scary and where police always used to be double crewed on jobs they are now supposed to go to them alone which quite frankly is madness. Bad enough when there is two of them and the criminals have knifes or guns and they have their batons and handcuffs. Most of them don't have tasers yet.

They get terrible abuse from the public especially dealing with drunks, drugs, domestic violence etc. They are having terrible problems recruiting and retaining staff now and I can't really blame people for not wanting to join.

If you want to get an insight go to the reddit uk police forum and read what the men on the inside are talking about.

They’re busy doing actual policing.

This is actual policing though- the police are the only ones who can break into someone’s home to check whether they had a fall/ dropped down dead. I agree this would generally only apply to a vulnerable person, but welfare checks are part of police work.

just like they have to deal with mental health, because they are the only ones who can section someone in a public place.

They do, or did, just last month.
Police broke down door of an elderly person I know who hadn't been seen/heard from for a few days. Found dead inside.

They do but only if there is reason, in my town at least they are most ti be found trying to sort out the gridlock due to the ongoing road work

They do welfare checks when children are absent from school and parents/point of contact is not contactable.

It is part of schools absence and safeguarding policy.

I think it’s dependant on area, the police used to do welfare checks where I am but they now are done by the fire service who can also take the lock out of doors. Police wouldn’t usually do this

Because they are there primarily to uphold the law not to check on people’s welfare. Also there aren’t enough of them and the ones we do have a run ragged.

Limited resources

Different forces have different procedures. The one I work for still does but only in certain circumstances, it's all down to resources and the fact the police have been picking up the slack in areas that should be being covered by mire appropriate agencies whilst really not having the staffing to do so.

I second looking up "Right Care Right Person" as another poster suggested.

I think, understandably, that in MH cases they are trying to push back. MH services seem to try to pass everything to everyone else. I have a CMHT and for some reason, if I’m in crisis I’m told to go to A and E. I don’t understand why the crisis team cannot just do an assessment. A and E get cross and ask why the MH team have sent me there. Ridiculous.

My local neighbourhood team does welfare checks.

Probably because people grossly misuse the "service", and call them out just because they haven't seen someone for a couple of days. We all have the right to disappear,if we wish to, we don't need to be hassled by anyone.
Also, their job is to deal.with crime, not to be a branch of social services.

They do sometimes, but they don’t like being used as an alternative to a more appropriate service. And it’s been that way for a long time.

Mumsnet

"Why don't the police do welfare checks anymore"?

Also Mumsnet

"All police are scum, misogynistic bastards who can't be trusted, especially around women and vulnerable people"

🙄

https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/concern-for-welfare/right-care-right-person/ came in a few years ago. I work for adult social care - in our area they do tend to still do them though.

No they are not. An ambulance can in certain circumstances. The police can only break in if they know there is life at risk.

Police are not the most appropriate resource for dealing with MH or medical issues. In fact for someone with MH issues, the police turning up can make it worse. They feel they are being criminalised for having poor MH. Unless life is at immediate risk in that the situation is current and ongoing it is not a police matter. A lot of the time people request welfare checks because they can’t drive because they have had a drink even if only a 10 minute walk away. Police should be dealing with serious incidents.

Police cannot section if in private. The health services can. Most welfare check requests are for home addresses so sectioning under 136 will not apply.

I don’t really see the connection between your post and mine- I said the police have to deal with mental health to section people, that clearly only happens in serious situations. Likewise of course police would only force entry if there was a threat to life. I haven’t suggested they do welfare checks for minor issues and they obviously have their own triage system to judge whether it’s appropriate

if they were needed, these are perfectly acceptable uses of police time.

My family member was sectioned at “home” by the police 2 weeks ago, they were persuaded onto the street to do so.

they spent 4 days in a&e in which time there were 4 other people under police section in the same corridor.

The majority of patients in the subsequent psychiatric hospital ward started their journey there under 136.

it’s hardly uncommon

When the old fella over the way passed away in his flat it was the fire brigade that come out because the police wouldn't be able to break into the 2nd floor flat. Once the fire bridge had broken in the police come around 10 minutes later.