Photo: 123RF
Police attended 7,370 fewer mental health-related requests in the year to June, as a result of the deliberate plan to wind back on responding to calls for help. And the department expects to respond to even fewer calls this year - as it enters phase three of that plan - which includes pulling back on searching for people missing from mental health facilities and emergency departments. The phased approach began a year ago Nov 4 and has so-far involved police limiting the time spent with someone in an emergency department, raising the threshold for transport of someone with a mental illness, and tightening rules around where mental health assessments can take place. Police maintain they will attend calls if there has been an offence committed or if there is a risk to life or safety. The fourth and final phase will see 15-minute ED handovers, and police lifting to threshold for welfare checks where there is not believed to be a risk of criminality or safety. Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson and Health NZ Director of Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Karla Bergquist join Kathryn.
