Right Care, Right Person

Right Care, Right Person was introduced in County Durham and Darlington on 10 June 2024.

Right Care Right Person (RCRP) is a national model involving a partnership approach which changes the way the emergency services respond to medical calls to ensure that vulnerable people receive the right specialist health support they need by ensuring that people in mental health crisis and those where there are concerns about welfare are seen by the right professional, to improve outcomes and the experience for people who need mental health support. This approach also helps to avoid inappropriate criminalisation, especially of those in mental health crisis. The focus is on maintaining patient safety and ensuring that people in mental health crisis are not left without support.

The idea is to make sure that when someone calls about a mental health issue, the right people respond instead of just the police. This change aims to reduce the strain on services and ensure that the right care is given by the right people. The police will still do their main job of keeping everyone safe. If there’s a real and urgent danger to someone’s life or serious harm, the police will act quickly, just like they do now. 

Durham Constabulary implemented RCRP in County Durham and Darlington on Monday 10th June 2024. The approach to RCRP implementation and mental health has been planned and developed jointly throughout the partnership in advance of the introduction of the changes, involving health, social care, and other relevant partners and a multi-agency governance structure has been agreed. Once implemented the arrangements will be monitored and reviewed over time. 

Please use this page for your reference. We have attached as many relevant materials as we have access to.

Additional information and guidance is available on Durham Constabulary website, including toolkit published by the College of Policing - Link to Durham Constabulary Website [external link] 

Further resources available below:

Durham Constabulary Questions for Partner agencies [Powerpoint slides]

National Partnership Agreement [external link]

College of Policing, National Guidance [external link]