What is Right Care, Right Person?
Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) is an approach designed to ensure that people of all ages, who have health and/or social care needs, are responded to by the right person, with the right skills, training, and experience to best meet their needs.
At the centre of the RCRP approach is a threshold to assist police in making decisions about when it is appropriate for them to respond to incidents, including those which relate to people with mental health needs. The threshold for a police response to a mental health-related incident is:
- to investigate a crime that has occurred or is occurring; or
- to protect people, when there is a real and immediate risk to the life of a person, or of a person being subject to or at risk of serious harm.
The approach involves consistent use of the RCRP threshold to determine whether the police are the appropriate agency to respond at the point at which the public or other professionals report a mental health-related incident. It is important to distinguish this from the police’s powers under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA); for example, the application of section 136. While the decision to attend an incident is determined by assessing that the incident meets the RCRP threshold, the decision to use powers under the Mental Health Act, is made by an officer at the scene of an incident. Partnership arrangements governing police involvement at pre-planned interventions will continue to be managed at a local Essex level; for example, police attendance at section 135 Mental Health Warrants. The police will always have the discretion to deploy to incidents and this approach does not impede the operational independence of the Chief Constable.
Essex Police have been clear that the delivery of RCRP is very much a partnership piece. To support this further, memorandum of understandings (MOUs) has been developed which set out the roles of each agency. This is underpinned by both national guidance and legal advice.
In Essex, the RCRP threshold will be used in a way that is responsive to dynamic and changeable situations. For example, there may be occasions where a call handler initially judges that there is no clear and immediate risk of serious harm, but the situation escalates. As with all other types of incidents, the police will apply a continuous risk assessment approach, and respond as required to any change in risk, taking into consideration any information provided by local partners. Likewise, when the police have responded to an incident, but the threshold is no longer reached, there should be a timely transfer of support to mental health or other suitable services, with local areas working towards handovers taking place within one hour as specified in local plans, unless mutually agreed in relation to a particular incident on a case-by-case basis.
The adoption of RCRP, and its compatibility with Policing’s responsibilities and statutory duties towards children, continues to be carefully considered and discussed with the Department of Education (DfE) and the Association of Directors of Childrens Services (ADCS) to make sure it addresses the needs of children and young people. Agreement has been made with colleagues in DfE and ADCS to produce a jointly agreed set of principles-based guidance to support police forces and partners in implementing RCRP in respect of children and young people. This will also ensure greater support and confidence for Police forces in their role as a lead safeguarding partner regarding compatibility between RCRP, Working Together and The Childrens Act. Locally, the importance of implementing RCRP to ensure the right and best possible outcomes for children and young people is paramount and Essex Police and Executive Directors of Children, Families and Education Services are working in partnership to ensure this.
