More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs.

“Two reported incidents show that by withdrawing the Police’s support from mental health call outs, people suffering severe distress will fall through the cracks, and will miss out on the support and care they deserve,” Labour mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary said.

“The Government has failed to provide a plan to support mental health workers, patients and other staff when people detained under the Mental Health Act are brought into emergency departments.

“The Government said it had a plan for Police to reduce the amount of time they stay with a person detained under the Mental Health Act in an emergency department, but it’s being pushed through too fast.

"Staff in our hospitals are already reporting high levels of violence in their workplace. Withdrawing Police without trained safe staff to step in puts everyone at risk.

“Matt Doocey is compromising worker and patient safety and is failing to deliver the mental health support he promised New Zealanders. He should be held accountable if more incidences of harm are reported,” Ingrid Leary said.

“While in Government, we were developing a plan to phase in mental health co-response teams nationally to respond to 111 calls for people experiencing mental distress,” Labour Police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.

“However, rushing through the withdrawal of Police support is irresponsible when there is no additional mental health workforce in place.”

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