Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
The Mental Health Foundation says plans for police to scale back attending mental health callouts must be halted.
The Police currently receive 70,000 mental health callouts a year, but the government has said police are not mental health workers and need to focus on their core job.
Last November, police announced a four-phase plan to reduce the the time spent on mental health callouts.
Currently, police do not stay with patients once they have been taken to an emergency department voluntarily, and have wound back on transport requests and attendance at mental health facilities.
The next phase of the withdrawal is expected to begin this month, although police declined a request from Nine to Noon to set out what that would involve and when.
The Mental Health Foundation says there is no adequate plan in place to support the transition and it must be halted until an alternative service is in place.
Chief executive of the Foundation, Shaun Robinson, speaks to Kathryn.
