Senior healthcare figures have backed councils’ demand to delay police withdrawal from non-urgent mental health callouts.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service intends to unilaterally withdraw from non-emergency callouts from September, with other forces keen to follow suit.
Speaking to The MJ, chief executive of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, Sean Duggan, said the timeframe for implementing the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) between police and health bodies has been rushed and warned many areas were not ready to manage the implications of police withdrawal.
The Local Government Association (LGA) last week said it would write to ministers to request delays to the NPA, which forms part of the Government’s £2.3bn transformation of mental health provision.
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