Lobby for more work to reduce the risks of suicide

As the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ (APCC) lead on Mental Health, from 2016 to 2017, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) lobbied for more work to reduce the risks of suicide and was an active member of the National Crisis Care Concordat (CCC) Steering Group.

In March 2017 the PCC, through the Mental Health Coordinator post he had funded, participated in a multi-agency event to review the CCC in Dorset and to implement work on the Pan Dorset Suicide Prevention Strategy to meet the local and national requirement to produce a plan with agreed priorities and actions. The delivery of the Dorset CCC was via the Acute Care Pathway by Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Dorset NHS Trust, Local Authorities, Police, OPCC, Dorset MH Forum.

The Pan Dorset Multi Agency Suicide Prevention Strategy is overseen by the CCG.

The PCC lobbied and input to the consultation by Dorset CCG and this resulted in the following provisions:

• Three Community Front Rooms – based in familiar community settings and staffed by peer support workers
• Two Retreats - calm and quiet places, for people in mental distress, and supported by a mix of clinically qualified staff and people with lived experience.
• Connections – 24/7 crisis line via phone, email and Skype
• Inpatient beds – 16 more beds for people with serious mental illness who need to be in hospital.
• Recovery beds – provide an alternative to hospital admission or support people when they are discharged from hospital before they go home. Reconfigured availability of these beds has taken place to cover both East and West of the county