Co-responding to mental health issues within the policing, health and social care services in the 21st century: A scoping review

BACKGROUND: The Community Access Support Team is an initiative aimed at improving crisis response for people facing mental health challenges or trauma. It brings together policing, health and social care in a co-response team that offers compassionate, timely support, reducing the need for risk and emergency department visits. Co-responding has three core elements namely specialised call handling, a joint police mental health team, and a community support hub for follow-up care. This scoping review, which follows the JBI Methodological Framework, aims to explore and map the extent, range and nature of research related to co-responding and to identify gaps in existing literature. METHODS: Following a search of various online databases, two independent reviewers underwent a two-step screening process on Covidence; a total of 29 papers were included for data extraction. The mapping included a review of the various models and regulatory frameworks underpinning service providers, type of interventions, outcomes and stakeholder experiences (providers, person, family). FINDINGS: Co-response teams improved interagency collaboration and service co-ordination; they reduced jail bookings and emergency department transport. Service users felt better understood and communicated with compared to police-only responses. Police gained confidence and received more crisis training. CONCLUSIONS: Co-response teams help to improve service user care and access to community mental health services. However, there is limited evidence of the long-term cost-effectiveness, and some challenges included role conflict, staffing and data sharing issues.