Executive Summary:
The Street Triage process was established in June 2012 by Cleveland Police and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust.
Its main objective is to provide a service that will protect people who are suffering from mental health issues.
The Street Triage Team assess individuals of any age, whether they have learning disabilities, personality disorders, substance misuse or mental health issues.
People are assessed at the first point of contact with the police, at street level and prior to a decision to detain a person under the Mental Health Act.
The team helps identify people who need to be detained for their own safety or referred to other services for care and treatment and offers support to police officers to make an informed decision about an onward pathway of care for the individual.The cost of the current service is £170,000 and cover is 4pm to midnight 7 days a week.
450 people have used the service over the last 12 months. Had this service not existed the cost to the Force and the NHS would have been £820,000. Deducting the service costs of £170,000 this still leaves a (non cashable) saving to the services involved of around £650,000 per annum. In order for this service to continue functioning 7 days a week and extending the service time to 12 am to 12pm it will require a further £17k. Taking the figures for a service covering 12pm till 12am for 12 months, the service costs would be £280,000 in part met by the NHS. By seeing around 750 people the (non cashable) savings would average £1.2 million minus the service costs of £280,000 and the (non cashable) saving to the services would be around £900,000 per annum.
Decision 33-2013: Proposal to further extend the hours of Street Triage (application, 462kB)