Debate contribution: PSNI: Pressure due to Health System Failings

Debate contribution by Mr Trevor Clarke on 1 December 2025.

MLA

Mr Trevor Clarke

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

1 December 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

PSNI: Pressure due to Health System Failings

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5269502

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is not usual for me to commend the Minister, but I commend the Minister for the insight that he has given us today on where Right Care, Right Person is at. I should declare an interest as a member of the Policing Board. Indeed, when the Minister was a member, we sat beside each other. The only thing that I would say in criticism, not of the Minister but of his Department, is that it should have been happening much sooner, because it is not a new problem within Health or policing, as the Minister will know from his time on the Policing Board. He is right to put on record the work that ACC Henderson has done. Indeed, when he got a promotion to a different post, he continued to look after that particular piece because he saw it as his baby, and I commend him for the work that he has done with the Minister. If you look at our amendment, Minister, the reason that we want to amend the motion is to tie in the Justice Minister. Acknowledgement has been made that the Justice Minister is not here, but probably could have added to the debate, because we talk about a tripartite agreement within policing, and, obviously, the Justice Minister has a big part to play in the resolution of this within policing itself. That said, there is a problem with the policing budget, but that is not what today is about; we are talking about the Health element. I am in danger of repeating everything that has been said about numbers. You will know, Minister, because you were there when all the issues were discussed.

One thing strikes me that has not been touched on. To pick up on Jon's point about the police, some of us on the Policing Board have had the opportunity to do ride-alongs. On every ride-along that I have been on, when the police were asked about their job, they said that the bit that they hate most is the time that they spend waiting in A&E departments. They say, "We did not join the police to do mental health calls or health calls in general". One of the dangers is that, while the stats that we are talking about are purely for mental health calls, the calls, as you will know, Minister, are not only about mental health. Many of them are other health-related calls, such as for heart attacks or other reasons, when the Ambulance Service is unable to attend. I will give an example. There was an accident in my constituency on Saturday night, in which somebody was trapped in a car. It was classed as a category 3 incident. The Fire Service was asked to attend, but the police suggested that there was no rush for the Fire Service, because it was going to take 29 hours for an ambulance to arrive. That gives an indication of the waits that the police face. If the police had stayed with the injured party in that car, they would have been waiting for 29 hours. The other thing that all Members will be familiar with is that, when we attend A&E departments for whatever reason, there are always police cars there. No one can say that that is a good use of police resources, and no one has tried to do so today. Alan spoke defensively from the Minister's perspective, but I think that we all agree that the problem is within. However, I commend you, Minister. If you had not had the insight from having been on the Policing Board, seeing some of the numbers behind all this, things would never have changed. However, an opportunity was missed that could have come much sooner from previous Health Ministers. I am not pointing the finger at anyone in particular. I also commend the reference that was made to custody suites. The custody suite model is still in operation but is far from perfect. Again, on one of the ride-alongs, I saw the risk-averse nature of some of the health professionals who are in those suites. They do not divert as many calls to hospitals as they should. More of those cases need to be dealt with, and, in this part of the debate, I call on you, Minister, to take that back to your officials to do what can be done to make sure that more of those cases are dealt with.

I get an extra minute. That is all right. There is clearly an issue with custody suites, but another key issue is funding, which was talked about today. It is my understanding that the PSNI is lifting that budget and that there is no assistance from the Department of Health. It is not a case of the PSNI asking Health to do everything; the PSNI is prepared to do something, but it seems to have been on a lonely path for some time. Living in the constituency that we do, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be fully aware of the mental health crisis there, given that we have two establishments. We frequently hear people ask, "Why is the helicopter up in Antrim tonight?" The reason that the helicopter is up is that people have left those establishments. More needs to be done in those establishments to make sure that, when people are there, they are being cared for and looked after and that the police are not being called to them. Of course, there is then the case of Muckamore Abbey Hospital, with all the issues that have gone on there. Now, too frequently, staff default to calling in the police when issues happen in those establishments. Additional training needs to be given to people in those facilities to prevent them from calling, because the police are not trained to work in mental health crisis teams. As I said at the outset, Minister, I commend you for introducing the Right Care, Right Person model. We look forward to its implementation and to seeing those changes happen.

1,015 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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