Collaboration to improve crisis care for young people.
Funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research NIHR).
The problem being addressed
Young people need better access to emergency mental health care. Many parents said emergency mental health care for children is poor.
We know young people and families often have a better experience when services work together.
If the police and mental health practitioners work together, young people in crisis and their families could have a more supportive experience, reducing the risk of harm for the young person.
During 2022, Pennine Care, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust, and Greater Manchester Police piloted a joint response to emergency calls for adults in mental health crisis.
This meant that a police officer and mental health practitioner went out to help people together. The pilot demonstrated better outcomes for the police and members of the public.
“Saved hours of police time, kept three patrols free for further jobs” - Police officer
“She listened, helped me unravel my thoughts, did an absolutely belting job” - 999 caller
Research shows young people are better supported when services work together.
A joined-up approach to emergency care could help young people and their families. This means helping them feel heard, stay at home, avoid frightening hospital stays and traumatic admissions, and reduce the need for restrictive practices.
Throughout this three-year research study, we will offer a joint response intervention between the police and a mental health practitioner for young people.
With funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme, we will produce evidence on how well the approach works for young people in crisis.
We will explore how this joint response to young people in crisis could operate effectively within children’s services, working closely with national policy advisors and decision makers to make long-term improvements.
Our study will begin with a comprehensive literature review to understand the evidence base.
Throughout this process, we will discuss our findings from the review with people with lived experience of mental health crisis to develop a theory of how a joint response could help young people.
We will then pilot the joint response to emergency calls from young people in Greater Manchester, to test how well the approach works and hear what young people and their families think about the service.
This information will help us develop the best possible joint response to crisis calls and a guide for how to do it well.
We will work with young people through creative workshops and theatre to refine our theories about how to deliver a joint response service well, and to effectively share our findings nationally.
Overall, we aim to provide key evidence about whether a joined-up service is a better way to support young people in crisis, and evidence as to how it can work as well as possible. This will provide a new framework for future planning for crisis care for young people.