The relationship between urgent and emergency mental health care and policing represents a difficult balance and an area with considerable ethical and practical challenges. On the one hand, response to situations where only the police can intervene can be life-saving. On the other hand, inappropriate deployment of police can lead to preventable trauma and criminalisation of health problems. This discussion has been brought into focus by the ""Right Care Right Person"" programme in England and similar initiatives in the Devolved Nations. Initially hailed as a regional programme to free up policing time, reduce inappropriate deployment and improve experience of mental health care, the impact of the national roll-out has been mixed. While this may have led to some improvements in culture and service delivery, it has been criticised for increasing demand on health services with no additional resource, and in some cases for putting people at risk by inappropriate police withdrawal or refusal to attend emergencies.
This session presents the reality behind the headlines from three different perspectives: healthcare, policing, and patient experience. We present ethical considerations, recommendations for good practice, current knowledge about the benefits and harms of changing practices on clinical outcomes and quality of care, and a lived experience account of the immediate and longer-term effects of police involvement in mental health care. We present findings of academic research into how review of incidents can be used to help improve service response and the relationship between emergency mental health services and police.
Learning objectives
In this webinar you will learn:
• ethical considerations and recommendations for good practice regarding the interface between police and mental health services
• what is known about the benefits and harms of recent changes in practice
• a lived experience of police involvement and response to mental health emergencies
• how review of incidents can be used to help improve service response and the relationship between emergency mental health services and police.
Speakers
Chair: Dr Mayura Deshpande, Hampshire and Isle of Wight NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Alex Thomson, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London
Mr Michael Brown, University of Worcester, Worcester
Dr Emma Mcallister, Expert by Experience, London
Funding
RCPsych International Congress is financially supported by the purchase of exhibition stand packages. A full list of confirmed exhibitors can be found here: Exhibiting Organisations at International Congress 2026
Availability
This webinar is part of the Congress webinar 2026 package. If you attended all four days of Congress, you will have access to these as part of your Congress package. Otherwise the Congress webinar 2026 package can be purchased below.
