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????

I don’t understand this. A section 136 only lasts 24 hours or 36 hours at a push.
I’ve been sectioned on 136. Was taken to a place of safety then had a mental health act assessment.

They were good for us. Woman with depression stopped coming to do her horse. We only knew first name, vague area she lived in and description of her car. I was very impressed, all they could tell us was she was OK but needed someone to care for the horse, turned out she'd been sectioned.

Once you’re at hospital the psychiatric team visit you to release or section 2/3, but as you know that only applies when you have a bed. So you have to wait in a&e (or similar ward) until the bed becomes available

the police stayed with my family member for 24 hours then informally looked after him for another 3 days (whilst assigned to other patients for their 24 hours)- they were very vulnerable and the police were incredible.

Oh I see, I thought you meant he remained on section 136 the whole time, apologies.
I’ve been sectioned several times under section 2.

Budgets have been slashed to the bone. I had to have the police out about something recently. The officer arrived way too late to be of any use - and by the time he left, I felt like his counsellor. He spent way more time telling me how many cuts there had been and how all his annual leave had been cancelled than he did discussing the crime.

They do. That’s all they seem to do at the moment but they most certainly do.

They refused to for my mum. Ambulance went there many hours later and found her dead on the floor. We couldn't get into the building to check on her, despite it being a warden assisted building. The police had to go there anyway once the ambulance let them know. We don't know if she could have been saved had they gone there when we asked, or if the warden had gone to check on her.

Last year I was suicidal. I'd gone to the GP for support and they said I needed to go to hospital. I didn't want to and asked for antidepressants instead. GP refused at first but did end up giving them to me.

The next day the police were banging on my door. I had no idea why and really panicked so ignored the door... until I heard them radio through potential suicide.

They were coming round to check I was okay

They stayed with me for over an hour and were just so kind to me. I've never forgotten one of their faces

@NamechangerGchangerame

I’m sorry to hear you were feeling suicidal. I hope you are okay now. It sounds like they helped you by showing up.

Because that should not be their role and they dont have endless resources to attend every time a neighbour hasn't brought their bins in or repeatedly keep on having to check on the same people as nothing changes

Yes it will be down to area.

Theres a policy being rolled out called 'right care, right person' (RCRP) which means forces are withdrawing the response to mental health calls.

Once RCRP is rolled out in your force area your son will not receive that response unless there is evidence that he is at immediate risk of death eg he has said he will take his own life immediately. Other than that you will get the response the OP described.

Also to be aware that if there are several incidents where there has been an I cat/cat 1 the person is likely to receive a community protection warning (CPW) due to resources deployed, followed by CPN & eventually arrest, fines, court, CBO. All for having repeated MH crises.

I asked for a welfare check on neighbours a couple of years ago. A very distressing incident. I did it through webchat and had to give a lot of details. I didnt do the report anonymously as I thought openness would indicate how concerned I was. I know the police came to the house as we saw the car. I felt vindicated when a year later the doctors surgery sent out investigators due to no-shows at appointments. But weird behaviour has started again. I won't be doing a welfare check but have reported the untaxed, un-MOTd cars that keep turning up.

years and years of chronic under funding

same as all the other public services gone to shit

Because they’re supposed to be dealing with crime.

I’ve got a family member who is a paramedic and they spend most of most shifts dealing with people who are mentally unwell, have addiction problems or have been let down by other areas of the NHS.

Cos they’re lazy, useless fuckers.

I have a very low opinion of the police.

That’s not quite right. The fire service have powers of entry, particularly if requested to gain entry by the ambulance service or another public service body. They do often do that in many areas of the country where someone has had a suspected medical emergency and can’t open their door.

In the mental health trust I used to work for the crisis team was based in A&E
Also on a weekend evening the duty psychiatrist would see patients in A&E
Also police have powers of entry under the mental health act which mental health staff don't.

And ambulances often wont come if they're not able to know for sure where the person is or get to them so you end up in a catch 22 situation

This the 'right service, right time' or whatever it is, but the reality is there often isnt a 'right service' because they dont exist, particularly around issues of mental health

Right care right person as previous posts have said are removing this back to the right agencies. All services are underfunded and understaffed but unlike other agencies the police have no one to fall back to. Some examples

Fridays from 4pm we were guaranteed to start getting calls from social workers unable to get a response from a client all week on the phone, most times they had not attended the address leaving it until Friday for police to go and their oncall colleagues to manage any issues even if they did not have access to paperwork. when asked why they hadn’t attended you would get they didn’t have time or if asked why they are concerned it was generally they have responded to contact requests.

foster carers reporting young people missing because the instructions were they had to if young person was not at residence at the time stated. One particular child went away with scouts on weekends and was reported missing even though he wasn’t. At that time we had the number for the scout leader and would call and they would verify the young person was there. When foster carers were asked why they did not call the scout leader we would be told I was told just to call the police. Initially all the associated paperwork to report them missing had to be done before the call. It wasn’t until some common sense changes occurred that was bounced back to the foster carers freeing officers up to deal with other calls.

the onus is now on relatives, employers, relevant services to make more effort initially before police are involved.

not everyone abused the system but lots did.
in regards to MH and sectioning the onus is generally on AMHP and doctors to be aware a patient is declining and do a in home section with section 12 paperwork. Section 136 is still used but because it can lead to difficulties in transporting the person to the right place as in some areas you have to ring a bed manager to see if there is a bed the instructions being you can’t just take them to A&E anymore. This leaves people on the streets for ages sometimes becoming agitated which leads to restraints and assaulted officers because the person is confused and in need of help.

Right Care, Right Person is not perfect but it has improved the service some people receive as they now get it from properly trained people not officers trying to be social workers or MH professionals and this leads to hopefully better outcomes for them.
Police Hours saved on MH calls

In short some are still done but people are made to put a bit more effort in before police get involved rather than what they had been doing.

I think this is part of the Police efforts to stop being welfare or Social Service officers. If the police arrest someone who is hurt, a police officer has to stay by the hospital bed indefinately. Not the best use of police manpower

20000 officers cut by the Tories.

There are already deaths from this policy.

Yes, its not accurate to say it has led to a better service for people in crisis!