{"id":819543,"date":"2026-10-31T08:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T08:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819543\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T08:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T08:06:12","slug":"psychiatrists-significant-concerns-over-new-protocols-which-will-see-fewer-psni-responses-to-mental-health-calls-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819543\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychiatrists\u2019 \u2018significant concerns\u2019 over new protocols which will see fewer PSNI responses to mental health calls \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has expressed \u201csignificant concerns\u201d over new protocols to be introduced which will see police respond to less mental health<\/a> calls.<\/p>\n

The second phase of the \u2018Right Care Right Person\u2019 initiative is due to be introduced by the PSNI<\/a> alongside health service organisations from Sunday 1 November.<\/p>\n

RCRP is a national programme which changes the way key public services, in particular the police, respond to calls for service. <\/p>\n

The new phase aims to deal with concern for welfare calls, which may relate to physical or mental health, social welfare, safeguarding or a concern that someone may be at risk of harm. <\/p>\n

\"Drumcree<\/a>\"Noah<\/a><\/p>\n

The PSNI respond to over 35,000 such calls annually but say in many cases they are not the most appropriate service to provide the care or support that a person needs. The changes will see more calls being directed to health professionals rather than police.<\/p>\n

However, the umbrella group representing psychiatrists in the north says mental health services in the country are in \u201ccrisis\u201d and raised concerns that the rollout of a similar programme in England has led to many experiencing mental ill health not getting the treatment they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we support the underlying principles of Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) and welcome the PSNI\u2019s engagement with a range of stakeholders in preparation for its roll-out, we have significant concerns about the readiness of the wider health and social care system for the planned first phase on 1 November,\u201d said Dr Richard Wilson, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn England, the introduction of RCRP has been variable in terms of how effectively it\u2019s been implemented by local police, health and other relevant services. As a result, far too many people experiencing a mental health crisis have not received the support they need. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe agree that people experiencing mental health crises should receive timely care from appropriate health professionals. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we have concerns about a protocol that dismantles the police safety net before a robust, agreed and adequately resourced healthcare safety net is operational. <\/p>\n

\u201cPolice involvement must remain available where there is a risk of harm and no one experiencing a mental health emergency should fall between services or face delays in receiving help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Wilson also called on the Stormont executive to \u201curgently provide mental health services with the resources and funding required\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Richard Wilson, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland <\/p>\n

The PSNI has said the new protocol will be a major change for its officers and staff, but denied accusations that it was \u201cwalking away\u201d from mental health incidents.<\/p>\n

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: \u201cNot all welfare concerns require police and stage 2 of RCRP will see PSNI no longer attending those concern for safety calls which do not meet our thresholds. We will instead be signposting to other agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I want to be very clear, the PSNI are not walking away from all health or mental health incidents. There will continue to be circumstances in which PSNI is the appropriate service to respond, including where a crime has been committed or there is a real and immediate risk to life or serious harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a significant change for police officers and staff, health colleagues and for members of the public. However, I am confident that we are well prepared to manage this change effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royal College of Psychiatrists has expressed \u201csignificant concerns\u201d over new protocols to be introduced which will see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,69223,1906,6623,2662,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-819543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-health-and-social-care","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-psni","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}