Progress to Date

The Authority, Police Scotland and partners are committed to making progress on this key areas of focus and have committed to a series of activities which are being progressed with support and leadership from colleagues across a range of sectors at a local and national level.

NHS Board Transfer of Care Workshops

In December 2023 Scottish Government Directors for Justice and Mental Health wrote to NHS Board Chief Executives seeking their support for a series of local workshops focused on understanding transfer of care practice and variation across Scotland. These sessions, led by the Authority in March and April 2024, focused on understanding the local relationship between policing, mental health services (NHS and Local Authority) and acute NHS services.

Workshops took place across NHS Forth Valley, Highland and Lanarkshire attended by colleagues from local policing divisions, mental health community teams, acute mental health services, adult social care services and public health.

The facilitated sessions were discussion based, with an introductory overview of current provision in each area. Attendees discussed what works in their current model, the processes that cause a challenge, and suggestions of what improvements could be made to current processes.

A range of good practice examples have been identified through the workshops, including a direct referral telephone-based triage, proactive multi agency case planning and shared risk assessment tools. These examples will be cascaded to allow consideration of scaling nationally to provide consistent service.

Additionally Police Scotland has hosted a series of unscheduled care workshops with key partners and stakeholders, supported by the service design team. These workshops have focused on understanding functions and responses currently delivered by Police Scotland but not within the core responsibility of policing, such as transporting individuals between locations.

Partnership Delivery Group

To support and coordinate the work underway a partnership delivery group, chaired by the Authority, was established in January 2024, attended by representatives from policing, NHS, government, lived experience, academia, voluntary and third sector, local government, and emergency service partners.

The partnership delivery group is currently working on a framework which will support collaboration and consistent, equitable practice across Scotland in relation to mental health distress. This work is linked to the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Network and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

A national action plan to support delivery of the framework is also in development, looking to complement and add value to workstreams already in progress.