To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) any discussions he has had with the Chief Constable in relation to the regular presence of officers in Emergency Departments assisting vulnerable patients; and (ii) any appropriate Health and Social Care resource that could be deployed to support these patients after check-in to free up PSNI resource.

I am aware that currently police officers often accompany individuals in mental health crisis to emergency departments and can spend prolonged periods of time there. The Right Care Right Person (RCRP) model once implemented will aim to address this issue. I have had a number of discussions in recent months with both the Chief Constable and senior PSNI representatives about the introduction of RCRP in Northern Ireland, in order to ensure close and effective cooperation between health and policing as the implementation is progressed.

An RCRP Strategic Oversight Group, chaired jointly by DoH and DoJ senior officials, has been established to ensure that the approach to RCRP implementation is planned and developed through cross-agency partnerships. The Group met for the first time on 29 October 2024. The focus of the Oversight Group is to identify and address the required operational change, while recognising and respecting the operational independence of PSNI, and ensuring effective future partnership working between all relevant statutory partners in the delivery of health and social care, including mental health care. This will include how best to address the issue of police time spent supporting vulnerable patients at emergency departments.