Mental health - distress framework for collaboration: multi-agency partnership approach

1. Ministerial Foreword

We believe that there should be no wrong door to accessing unplanned or urgent mental health support.

Work has been underway for a number of years at a national and local level, across a range of sectors and partners, to improve the mental health unscheduled care response and to ensure that this happens in a consistent manner. However, we recognise that more work needs to be done to ensure that anyone in need of support must receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time, regardless of where or what time of day they present.

In its thematic review of mental health demand on policing, published on 18 October 2023, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) recognised that mental health is a multifaceted issue that requires an effective whole-system partnership response, and it set out a number of recommendations for Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Government.

As part of our commitment to implement the Review’s recommendations, the Scottish Government, Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland have established a cross-sector Partnership Delivery Group (PDG; Annex A) which grounds itself in partnership working across organisational boundaries to identify and deliver support to individuals that can be delivered in a person centred and trauma informed way.

This Framework has been developed in Collaboration with PDG and has been informed by those who are instrumental in delivering this change, including our third sector partners and the voices of those with lived experience. Its implementation will be supported by the PDG’s Collaborative Commitments, and our aspiration is that these documents will support services to work together, across boundaries, to improve the mental health distress and crisis response as well as the interactions with and between our emergency services.

We wish to thank all those who continue to contribute to the delivery of mental health services, including the important role our ambulance, policing, local government and third sector partners play. Discussions over recent months have been wide-ranging, reflective of the breadth and depth of the issues set out here and have shone a bright light on the valuable contribution you play and the need for us all to work together to deliver meaningful change. As the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, we are fully committed to continuing that partnership approach as we work to implement this Framework and deliver on the Collaborative Commitments.

Angela Constance MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

Maree Todd MSP
Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport