Police and Health New Zealand have completed phase one of the Mental Health Response Change Programme and are preparing to begin phase two.
Phase one of the joint agency approach commenced in November last year and phase two was initially set to start on March 31.
With phase one complete, phase two will now start from today (April 14), with both agencies agreeing to a staged implementation across districts.
Each district has been assessed for their readiness to implement the next phase, so will have varying starting points for the rollout.
Moving the start of this phase by two weeks was recommended by the Mental Health Response Change Programme Governance Group to allow districts to be ready.
Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson says one of the challenges agencies faced was discrepancies in the way section 109 of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 was interpreted regarding handovers of detained people in emergency departments.
“We now have Crown Law advice which provides the much-needed clarity on section 109 for Phase Two to commence.”
The police districts to commence with phase two on April 14 are Waitematā, Counties Manukau, Waikato, and Tasman.
Police and Health NZ will be working closely with these teams and districts to support their preparation for the changes and will continue work with other districts to get them ready to start phase two.
“The safety of police and healthcare staff, and those in our community impacted by these changes, is a priority for us as we move forward,” Johnson says.
“Police will always respond when there’s an offence or immediate risk to life or safety, and this will not change.”
Health NZ director of specialist mental health and addiction Karla Bergquist says police and Health NZ, along with the Ministry of Health, Hato Hone St John, and Wellington Free Ambulance, have been working closely together on how agencies respond to mental health.
“At the heart of these changes is ensuring people receive the right mental health care at the right time, and their safety and that of kaimahi delivering that care is paramount.
“This is why agencies have committed to safely phasing in these changes and working together to make adjustments to implementation timeframes when necessary.”
The phase two changes remain the same and include:
- 60-minute handover of detained persons in emergency departments (ED): Police who have detained a person under the Mental Health Act and transported them for an assessment will remain in the ED for a maximum of one hour before departing unless they consider there’s an immediate risk to life or safety.
- Changes to mental health assessments in custody: If someone is placed under the Mental Health Act while in a police custody suite, they’ll need to be taken to a health facility within 30 minutes.
Custody rules will ensure people in distress are assessed appropriately, preferably in a health setting.
