The University Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust’s new dedicated mental health response vehicle sees mental health doctors, mostly nurses, attend 999 calls alongside an emergency medical technician, usually a paramedic.

“We look forward to the difference this latest initiative can make, especially as we head into the challenging winter period”

Liam Williams

The decision to send this specialist ambulance is made by another senior mental health clinician in the service control room.

The trust’s specialist mental health clinical lead and registered nurse, Simon Amphlett, said he hoped his organisation’s new offering would help holistically treat people who need both mental and physical health support.

“Almost all mental health calls to 999 are for or from someone in crisis,” he said.

“Many of these people will have thoughts of suicide or self-harm, and some will have acted on those thoughts.

“Furthermore, 999 callers will be calling for a physical health problem, but they may also have a mental health condition that needs urgent consideration as part of their care.”

He said the new service would help meet that need, in the face of an estimated 30,000 mental health crisis calls made to the trust a year.

“The senior mental health clinician and emergency medical technician then draw on their respective skills to provide specialist support to patients experiencing a mental health crisis,” continued Mr Amphlett.

“The idea is to treat these patients at home, in the community or through specialist mental health support, and our staff work in partnership with mental health practitioners from elsewhere in NHS Wales to provide the best possible support to anyone going through a mental health disorder.”

This new scheme was piloted at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board between January and March this year, with funding from Gwent Regional Partnership Council.

The dedicated mental health ambulance now operates 12 hours a day (1pm-1am), seven days a week across South East Wales.

The service will now undertake a recruitment program to roll out this scheme to the rest of the country.

Similar schemes were previously launched in England in the last decade, including one in South East London in 2018established in part as a way to reduce hospital admissions.

Liam Williams, executive director of quality and care for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said he hoped the new response vehicle would help address the growing demand for mental health services in Wales, particularly post-Covid-19.

“The NHS, social care, the voluntary sector and other agencies need to work closer than ever before if we are to respond well to the challenges ahead, and this initiative is a step in that direction,” he said.

“With the support of the Welsh Government, we have been on an important journey to improve emergency mental health care over the last few years as part of our Mental Health Plan and we have some tangible achievements under our belt.

“We look forward to the difference this latest initiative can make, especially as we head into the challenging winter period.”