Police acting as 'default security guards' in Scotland's A&E units as NHS pressures 'crippling'
NHS pressures on frontline officers is “crippling our ability” for policing, the chairman on the police union has warned.
Police have become “default security guards” in Scotland’s accident-and-emergency (A&E) departments with officers spending half their time on health callouts due to NHS pressures, the chairman of the force’s union has warned.
David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), raised the alarm that pressures put on officers to deal with health pressures was “crippling our ability” to deliver policing across the country.
Speaking at an SPF event at SNP conference in Aberdeen on Sunday, Mr Threadgold warned “because of challenges in health and the inefficiencies and challenges that are presented within the health sector in Scotland … police officers are picking up between 40, 50, 60 per cent of our operational capacity, which is taken by dealing with health calls”.
He added: “If we lost half of that extent or more because of something we cannot control, then there has to be reform across the public sector in Scotland - if we are going to be able to deliver the policing service that the public rightly expects.”
Asked to explain what NHS pressures were being faced by frontline police officers, Mr Threadgold said: “We are sent to calls where we end up in someone’s living room for five, six, seven hours.
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“We await a call back from a health professional to direct us what to do with that individual. Bearing in mind that these people need help, my argument is that the police are just not the correct agency to deliver that type of assistance.”
He also warned officers were having to “wait with them in A&E, again for six, six, seven hours”.
Mr Threadgold said: “Police have now become default security guards in accident-and-emergency units.
“If we have a situation, if we change what the police do to free up our capacity and by more consequence place more demand on health, where is the incentive within the health community to deliver that change? It doesn’t exist.”
Mr Threadgold insisted “we will always attend incidents where the public need emergency assistance”.
But he said: “The handover piece between police and health is broken or, indeed, non-existent.
“That is crippling our ability to deliver policing in Scotland.”
SNP community safety minister Siobhian Brown told the same event that ministers “understand the challenges”. She said: “I also get the point you are raising about the health issues.
“I know there is a lot of work going on in the NHS as well, because it needs to be dealt with - it’s unacceptable.”
Mr Threadgold was also asked about youth violence after a handful of high-profile incidents in Scotland over the summer. John Swinney convened a summit on youth knife crime in June in response to the issue.
Mr Threadgold said that in terms of officers being able to protect themselves from violent incidents, “the next step … is every police office in Scotland has access to a taser”.
Ms Brown said: “It’s unacceptable, but it’s a very small minority.”
She stressed that social media was potentially amplifying the perception of a small number of violent incidents.
Ms Brown said: “I don’t know whether there’s this huge increase or we are just seeing it a lot more because of social media. I just think we need to acknowledge we are in a different world now.”
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