Recommendation – Greater Manchester Police, November 2023
We identified organisational learning from one our investigations.
We will share our findings once associated proceedings have concluded.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Greater Manchester Police implements essential changes to ensure the Greater Manchester Mental Health Tactical Advice Service (MHTAS) are being utilised by response officers and call handlers during mental health incidents. These changes should include:
Amending the Greater Manchester Police Mental Ill Health, Mental Incapacity and Learning Disabilities (MIHMILD) policy to signpost officers to the MHTAS.
Providing training to staff, especially in the Force Contact Centre, on the service and support the MHTAS can provide to mental health incidents.
This follows an IOPC investigation where officers did not reach out to MHTAS when they attended a private dwelling due to reports of self-harm. The MHTAS could have provided specialist mental health support to both the officers and the man. The current MIHMILD policy does not reference the MHTAS or signpost officers to contact MHTAS when someone may be suffering from mental ill health. The IOPC has evidence of two other cases where officers have not known about the MHTAS and the support it can offer during mental health incidents. GMP has previously provided information to the IOPC to say work was being undertaken in March 2021 to improve decision making and raise awareness around the use of MHTAS however, due to the issues arising in this case, we believe further amendments to guidance and training are needed.
Accepted:
The Greater Manchester Police Mental Ill Health, Mental Incapacity and Learning Disabilities (MIHMILD) policy and procedure document has been reviewed and redrafted in December 2023.
As part of the work on the MIHMILD policy, a new section (section 5.1.2) has been included for the sole purpose of outlining the functions and services of MHTAS and the expectations of officers to make contact in the following situations;
- Direct from the scene if police are concerned about someone's mental health.
- If police come across someone in the course of their duties and needs support, advice, or guidance regarding mental health concerns.
- If police are considering taking someone voluntarily to hospital due to mental health concerns or If police are considering utilising powers under section 136 of the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983”
Section 5.1.2 of the policy also outlines the legal obligation for officers to consult specified medical professionals, if practicable to do so (as outlined under S136 (1c) of the Act) if considering utilising their powers under section 136 MHA 1983 and that MHTAS will likely be the most appropriate option for such consultation.
Section 5.1.2 also outlines that the MHTAS service is available 24 hours a day along with the contact phone number for officers to use when wishing to contact MHTAS.
Consideration was given to the importance of MHTAS when redrafting the MIHMILD policy document and as such the content regarding MHTAS was placed within the early pages of the policy (pages 4 and 5) with the aim of being easily located and visible to the reader.
Due to the standard template format utilised with Greater Manchester Police for policy and procedure documents, Section 5 was the earliest section in which such information could be recorded and is preceded only by the policy statement (section 1), Policy scope (section 2), roles and responsibilities (section 3) and terms and definitions (section 4).
The redraft of the MIHMILD policy document was completed on December 18th 2023 and has been through an informal consultation process internally within GMP. The document is currently being prepared for external formal consultation. It is expected that formal consultation on this policy will commence by the second week of January 2024. The formal consultation process will take no less than 28 days from submission.
Response to point 2:
In the immediate aftermath of [a man's] tragic death, the Mental Health Tactical Advice Service (MHTAS) Operations manager delivered in person 10-minute briefings to supervisory staff within the Force Contact – Crime and Operations Branch (FCCO).
As a result of this proposed learning recommendation from the IOPC, Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) strategic lead for mental health met with the new Operations manager and Clinical Manager for MHTAS who agreed that they will prioritise delivering refresher training to all dispatch staff within the FCCO between January and the end of March 2024.
The strategic lead at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) who run the MHTAS service is fully supportive of this training.
GMMH have also agreed to work with GMP’s FCCO training team to ensure that the briefing on MHTAS is included in all new starter training.
From the beginning of February through until April 2024, GMP will be training FCCO staff in relation to Right Care Right Person (a national approach supported by the Home Office and College of Policing) and It has been agreed with the lead trainers that MHTAS will be covered as part of that input.
In the interim MHTAS have created a briefing slide which since 5 January 2024 has featured on the Dispatch Supervisors Briefing. The slide includes key information and services provided by MHTAS including its telephone number and all year round availability.