Mental Health Bill [HL]

Lord Meston Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 20th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

I shall make a few points in response to the amendments that we have been discussing in this group. The noble Baroness, Lady May, made, very powerfully, an incredibly compelling case. The point she made about police officers sitting in A&E for many hours is so important. Not only is that a waste of police resources, it is often completely inappropriate for the person suffering from acute mental health problems. It can also be incredibly alarming for others in A&E. We all know that, sadly, far too many people are waiting for far too long in A&E, in the sort of environment that is in no way conducive to their overall health, physical or mental. That is my first point.

My second point relates to something that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, said. There will still sometimes be a role for police officers. I know from personal experience how much a police presence can be required when a person suffering a very acute mental health crisis is likely to harm both themselves and others. Those others can often be family members who are trying to support the person suffering from the crisis but are also pretty scared for their own safety. It is important that we are talking about widening the range of people who can be that primary responder, but we are not saying that it should never be the police.

I agree that if we have a wider primary responder, that individual must be prepared to do it, happy to do it and appropriately trained. We heard a lot in earlier groups about the importance of good training. I was particularly taken with the statistic that the noble Baroness, Lady May, raised about the views of paramedics and how many of them support this, because they are the people right at the sharp end. I cannot quite remember the number who support it, but it was very large, and so I think it is something that we should take seriously.

Finally, I want to lend my support to Amendment 49A in the name of my noble friend Lady Barker. Speeding up access to appropriate services is important, as is making the best use of the workforce that we have. For those two reasons, the amendment that my noble friend put forward is important.

[Lord Meston (CB)]

My Lords, I hesitate to interrupt, but I want to make much the same point that the noble Baroness has made based on my experience of a trip to A&E last year. I mentioned it anecdotally at Second Reading. There was a very disturbed person in A&E when I was having to wait there for some three hours. The hospital staff were struggling to contain the person in one room, as he kept leaving. He was not violent, but he was obviously distracting the hospital staff and worrying the other people present, who included children. As soon as anybody asked the staff what they were going to do, they said that they had to wait for the police. I have no doubt that the whole episode that I witnessed was prolonged by the need to wait for the police. Clearly, if this amendment or something like it is approved, it will widen the range of those who could be called upon to deal with such a crisis.

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, there is little for me to do following the persuasive speech of my noble friend Lady May, other than to say how much I support her in putting forward her amendments. I hope that the Minister will approach the proposals my noble friend has made in a receptive and constructive way.

I was struck by the case put forward by my noble friend Lady Buscombe about how technology could assist in the handling of mental health incidents. I hope equally that the Minister will wish to follow up on my noble friend’s suggestions.

The question of whether police officers, and only police officers, should exercise the powers under the Act to remove a person suffering from a mental health crisis to a place of safety is one that, as my noble friend Lady May said, has been simmering in the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care for a decade or more. Extending those powers to suitably trained healthcare professionals would be a change that I suggest goes with the grain of this Bill as regards the emphasis that it places on looking after mental health patients in the best possible way. That is not a criticism of the police in any sense. The police do a magnificent job in tackling anything that they are called upon to do, but, as we have heard, the police themselves say that the vast majority of instances in which they are called upon to deal with a mental health incident do not require a policing response.

The issue of risk is important to consider. Statistically, as my noble friend said, most mental health incidents present no risk whatever to the police attending. Admittedly, it is not always possible to tell in advance how risky a particular encounter is likely to be, but I agree with my noble friend that, provided that a paramedic is suitably trained and equipped, they will have the necessary skill set to deal with any risk to their own safety, bearing in mind that if a police presence turns out to be necessary, they can always call for one.

I very much hope that, between now and Report, the Minister will agree to meet my noble friend, if that is what she wishes, to map out a way forward that will lead to a broadening of the Sections 135 and 136 powers.