Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Police and hospitals will next week begin a joint review into how the first month of changes to handling people in mental distress have gone.
On 4 November, police began cutting back on how long officers spent at emergency departments handing a person over to health workers. They also brought in new guidelines on when officers would transport a patient to hospital, and when they would attend mental health facility call-outs.
Health New Zealand in turn hurried in changes to when hospital staff would call in police, amid other measures.
The two agencies said there had been "some challenges" but had not gone into detail. They said they were monitoring and addressing any gaps identified.
Police have also pulled back on family harm and public mental health callouts, using a new framework for their call-takers to gauge the seriousness of the risk.
About a half a dozen nurses with additional authority as duly authorised officers for mental health have since signalled they would give up the role in response to the pullback, as they did not feel it was a safe situation.
"The safety and well-being of staff and people requiring mental health support remains the top priority," Health NZ and police said in a joint statement.
They kept on meeting regularly to manage the changes.
"As is expected with any change of this nature, there have been some challenges while we implement the new protocols."
RNZ had asked for details, such as any incidences of violence where the response was different than before under the new changes, but the two agencies did not give any.
"We encourage staff members to raise problems initially at the locally established governance groups," the statement said.
"We want to acknowledge the professionalism shown by staff from both agencies to help enable police to return to core policing, whilst also ensuring people requiring mental health support continue to receive the right care from the right people."
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