Publish date: 15 July 2024
The national partnership agreement Right Care Right Person (RCRP) is being rolled out by police forces across the country. Our police partners (Cheshire and Merseyside) are taking a phased approach to the roll out:
- Phase 1 - Concern for welfare
- Phase 2 - Walkout of healthcare facilities and AWOL from a mental health establishment
- Phase 3 - Conveyance and transportation
- Phase 4 - Section 136 of the Mental Health Act and voluntary mental health patients.
The Trust is reviewing current policies and practices to ensure we’re in a position to respond to the roll out, with a focus on keeping our staff and patients safe. Roll out is well underway with Cheshire Constabulary currently in phase 2 and Merseyside Police phase 1.
We have started to experience impact of the roll out and meet regularly with police colleagues to share learning and agree next steps. It’s imperative that we robustly capture impact so that we can provide our policing partners with data and information to inform further roll out, making sure we learn together and adapt as we progress, in the interests of keeping everyone safe.
To do this we have added fields in our Radar system which will help to accurately capture the data we need. RCRP elements of Radar are activated when an incident selection of ‘Yes’ is made to the question, ‘Were police called to this incident?’ Thereafter, questions will prompt you to consider which police force was contacted (Merseyside, Cheshire or other). Subsequent questions will ask whether the incident links to RCRP phase 1, 2, 3 or 4. For example, if you contact police about concern for welfare, that would link to phase 1, if you contact them due to an absconsion, that would link to phase 2. Further questions will ask what the police response was, whether they deployed resource to the incident or not.
If after following guidance and processes it’s determined that police assistance is needed and police decline to attend, ask that it’s escalated by them to their senior for further consideration. Please also escalate within the Trust, following your existing escalation processes.
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