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Mental health triage for callers in crisis who phone 999

Nurses based at police emergency contact centre offer early intervention when calls involve people who are experiencing mental health crisis
Staff at phone call centre handle calls from the public

Nurses based at emergency contact centre offer early intervention when calls involve people who are experiencing mental health crisis

staff at a phone contact centre take calls from the pubic
Picture: iStock

Mental health triage nurses are to become a permanent fixture at a police emergency call centre.

The two Band 6 nurses are based at the Bedfordshire police 999 contact centre. They play a vital role in advising operators and officers when calls come in from people in mental health crisis, according to Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner Festus Akinbusoye.

Commissioned to meet growing need and fill gaps in services

The nurses’ roles were commissioned to help manage a spiralling mental health crisis made worse by the pandemic and cuts to mental health services.

Chief inspector Corina House, who manages mental health support for the contact centre, said: ‘The demands on policing from people with poor mental health continue to grow and it is more important than ever that we can provide the highest-quality response.’

Mental health street triage

In addition to the contact centre support, nurses provide mental health street triage with a team of three Band 7 nurses working to ensure people in crisis get initial support before other healthcare professionals can step in.

Mental health nurse and operational lead for the street team and control centre Edwin O’Selmo said the nurses had received ‘incredible’ feedback.

Both services are provided by East London NHS Foundation Trust and funded from local policing budgets.


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