Right Care Right Person Policy

1.   Statement of Policy

This policy document brings together two existing policies – Right Care Right Person (RCRP) Phase 1 & 2 and Right Care Right Person (RCRP) Phase 3 & 4, and supersedes any and all previous versions of the Right Care Right Person (RCRP) policies.

This policy seeks to clarify when it is appropriate to deploy resources to incidents concerning the welfare of individuals. In so doing, it ensures that the determined response is both proportionate and accords with the core responsibilities of the Police in discharging its legal duties.

This policy also covers the police response to calls for services requesting transport of a person to a health care setting. The safe, timely and appropriate transport of a person to and between health settings should be routinely carried out by hospital or ambulance transport. Police transport of a person to, or between health settings should only be used exceptionally, such as in cases of extreme urgency or where there is an immediate risk of violence which cannot be safely mitigated by officers travelling with the patient in a health vehicle. 

This policy is supported by ancillary documents including operational procedures.

Applies (but not limited) to: All categories of Dyfed-Powys Police officers and staff, whether full-time, part-time, permanent, fixed term, temporary (including agency staff, associates and contractors), seconded staff and volunteers. Police Officers, staff and volunteers accessing and using Force assets and property must have due regard to the contents of this policy.

 

2. Policy Aim and Scope

The policy aims to ensure that all police officers and staff understand their legal obligations and responsibilities in dealing with reports of concerns for welfare of individuals and that decisions made reflect the principles of proportionality and necessity through the execution of such legal duties.

It is important to be robust in ensuring that the Police are not missing critical information that would significantly change the risk assessment. As with all calls for service, the Police risk assessment model THRIVES (Appendix 3) and the National Decision-Making Model (NDM) will be applied. 

The College of Policing (CoP) Code of Ethics requires the Police to do the right thing in the right way. It also requires that the use of discretion in policing is necessary. However, in using discretion, it states that officers/staff should ‘take into account any relevant policing codes, guidance, policies and procedures’.

All officers and staff must be aware of the content of the Code of Ethics.

The RCRP policy will enable personnel within the Force Communications Centre (FCC) to understand the specific concerns made by callers, in particular those that relate to calls for welfare. It ensures that the right decision is taken regarding police attendance, or whether the ‘duty of care’ should more appropriately be adopted by another partner agency.

RCRP is a CoP supported national framework which aims to ensure individuals get the right support from the right emergency service and partner agency in providing them with the best care for their circumstance or situation. RCRP recognises that –

• People in crisis deserve the best possible service and the Police are not always the correct agency to deliver that service
• Not all welfare calls to Police trigger a legal obligation to act. In many circumstances, the Police do not have to accept a duty of care. However, it is of critical importance to recognise if the Police do accept a duty of care then they must respond.

The terms ‘welfare check’, ‘well-being’, ‘concern for welfare’, or ‘wellness check’ are to be considered the same for the purpose of this policy and all associated documents.

This policy also provides an overview of how Dyfed-Powys Police will determine the response to calls for service that request transport for a person to a health care setting or between health care settings which include –

• Hospital emergency departments
• Acute Hospital
• Urgent treatment centre (Minor Injury Unit)
• Mental Health care settings (in-patient hospitals, outpatient services and residential settings)
• GP Surgeries
• Any other NHS facility where a patient has attended for treatment, whether physical or psychological

Dyfed-Powys Police works in partnership with other responsible authorities in relation to the delivery of this policy. This policy is linked to documents that are partially owned by responsible authorities other than Dyfed-Powys Police where review of content may be required.

This policy applies to all police officers, police staff and volunteers who are involved in in the RCRP process and situations where transportation to a health care setting has been requested.

3. Powers and Policy/Legal Requirements

The legal basis for this policy is our responsibility under the following –

• Human Right Act 1998/European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)
• The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 – Section 17 and Syed v DPP (2010) and Section 117
• Criminal Law Act Section 3
• Common Law
• Mental Health Act 1983
• Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice for Wales
• Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Children’s Act 1989
• Children’s Act 2004
• Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 (Part 7)
• Wales Safeguarding Procedures
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• Equality Act 2010
• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and associated Regulations
• Data Protection Act 2018
• Freedom of Information Act 2000
• Police Reform Act 2002
• CoP APP – Missing Persons
• NPCC National Strategy on Mental Health
• NPCC RCRP / CoP Guidance Implementing Children’s Principles 2024

Internal

• FCC Graded Response Deployment Policy
• DPP Threat to Life Policy
• DPP Missing Persons Policy
• DPP Vulnerability Policy
• DPP Child Abuse and Child Protection Policy
• DPP Adult Protection Policy
• DPP RCRP Procedures for Phase 1 & 2 and Phase 3 & 4

 

4. Options and Contingencies

The police service is often contacted by partner agencies and members of the public to carry out a welfare check on a person who they are concerned for.  Often such calls are made in the belief that the Police are the appropriate agency and responsible/liable for the welfare of the individual concerned. The Police do not generally carry a duty of care at Common Law to protect individuals from harm caused by themselves or others.

The Police will carry out a duty of care to protect persons from harm where the Police have assumed responsibility, or where the Police have created (directly or indirectly) the risk of harm.

The Police have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to assist where there is a real and immediate risk to the life of a person, or a real and immediate risk of that person being subject to serious harm or other inhumane treatment. The risk of harm where a duty will arise on the Police to discharge will generally, but not always, arise from the criminal acts of a third party.

This policy and the associated documents will provide clarity to the Police and its partners on when a concern for welfare request will, and will not, become a police responsibility. The legal duties of care and liabilities towards an individual cannot be passed to the Police unless they accept that responsibility. In such cases where a responsibility is NOT accepted, the duty of care will remain with the partner agency or individual concerned.

This policy does not seek to avoid the responsibility of the Police in dealing with core policing matters. The core rules of the Police are outlined below, and any ‘concern for welfare’’ request that includes one of the following elements will be considered appropriate for police action in responding to the reported matter:

• Common Law policing powers
• Prevention and Investigation of Crime
• To keep the King’s Peace

A concern for welfare’ request can also be initiated by a member of the public and the policy makes it clear that where an individual is unable, due to circumstances beyond their control, they are unable to carry out such a check, or seek support from an agency who could do so, the Police will evaluate the request for assistance and respond accordingly should there be a risk or threat to life evident in the report.

Dyfed-Powys Police deem that patients requiring transportation to one or more of the health setting mentioned in Section 2 of this document be taken to that place in a manner most likely to preserve their privacy and dignity whilst also being able to deliver the right level of care.

A police vehicle is NOT the preferred vehicle to transport a person who has physical or mental health needs. However, in certain circumstances it may be the necessary form of conveyance. These could include where the person requiring transportation has been or is currently violent.

In these circumstances, officers will consider where they are required to transport the person to, or whether they can travel in a health vehicle to support health colleagues in maintaining the safety of everyone involved.

Roles and Responsibilities for the Force Communications Centre (FCC)

FCC Operators - Upon receipt of a ‘concern for welfare’ call, the FCC operator will create a Command and Control (STORM) incident log, recording full details. A risk assessment will be undertaken using THRIVES (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, Engagement, Safeguarding), the NDM (National Decision Model) and intelligence checks to determine the threat, harm and risk presented in the call. A decision will be taken as to acceptance of police responsibility. Where responsibility is accepted, deployment will be as per the force Graded Response Deployment policy.

FCC Supervisors – Ongoing supervision of all RCRP calls will be provided by FCC Supervisors who will provide advice and guidance to staff as required. Supervisors will intervene in instances where RCRP calls need to be escalated based on the insistence of the caller for police attendance. Supervisors will review all RCRP calls during their tour of duty for compliance with the policy and as part of a quality assurance (QA) process.

Force Incident Managers (FIMs) – FIMs (Police Inspector rank) will review all RCRP STORM logs to ensure the appropriate levels of deployment exist within the incidents reported to mitigate threat, harm and risk and to assess compliance with this policy. The ongoing review throughout the FIM’s tour of duty will include all priority/Grade 1, 2, 3 incidents as well as Grade 4 (resolution without deployment) ‘concern for welfare’ RCRP incidents. 

The FIM will assume overall responsibility for the management of incidents concerning RCRP and will intervene as required to ensure compliance with the RCRP policy.

Feedback to staff via their supervisors will feature as part of the overall management and QA review of incident, with the aims of developing learning from dynamic and structured reviews undertaken as part of the tour of duty.

Implementing the Policy – Triggers and Considerations for the Deployment of Officers/Staff

In order to continue to respond appropriately to calls that warrant police attention, a robust and timely triage system is adopted to clearly identify such calls. All requests for police attendance will be subject to the following considerations for police intervention:

1. Is there a real and immediate risk to life or serious harm to an identified person(s)?
2. Is it a medical emergency?
3. Is a child at risk of significant harm?
4. Does the person have a mental health problem (S. 135/136 MHA 1983)?
5. Is the individual of concern ‘Absent Without Leave’(AWOL) or a ‘Restricted Patient’?
6. Has a crime been committed?
7. Is this a missing person report?

A detailed description of the direction provided to the FCC staff in dealing with the above triggers and considerations can be found in the FCC RCRP Guidance and associated FCC training documents.

Partner Agency or Member of the Public Requesting a Concern for Welfare Check

Calls for Service for a Partner Agency/Statutory Body

A call for service from a partner agency may indicate that the duty of care for the individual concerned remains within that partner agency’s remit. If so, the Police will not assume responsibility. It is expected that the relevant partner agency will take all the necessary steps to ensure the care and welfare of the individual. An inability to carry out a welfare check by the reporting partner agency does not make the situation a police matter and in these circumstances the Police will NOT attend. This situation will need to be fully recorded on the STORM log.

There are a range of non-health partners who may be unable to carry out a concern for welfare check and in these circumstances the Police will consider all the information available before deciding whether there is a need for police intervention.

If the obligation for the Police to attend is NOT met, the partner agency will be informed accordingly. The partner agency will be advised to call back immediately should more information become available in a way that changes the situation, thus requiring the Police to re-evaluate their decision based on a new threat, harm or risk reported.

It is important to place the responsibility onto the partner agency to bring relevant information to the attention of the Police.

The CoP RCRP Guidance points out that where partner agencies call the Police for assistance, these calls must not be incorrectly identified as RCRP related. This is due to the fact that the Police are not being asked to lead or respond directly to these incidents in place of the appropriate service. Moreover, such calls seek Police assistance to appropriately support the partner agency. The CoP emphasises the point that supporting our partner agencies is the right thing to do in many of these situations, despite there being a lack of legal duty to respond. Assuredly, the support provided will be governed by the availability of resources at any given time and the level of committed engagement in terms of numbers and time allocation, with these matters being determined by the FCC Supervisors (Dispatch/Operations Room) and /or FIM.

The Police response to concern for welfare related calls is subject to local partnership agreements. The Police may agree to work in collaboration with partners to provide a particular service at a local level. This may between BCU’s subject to localised agreements.

Call from a Member of the Public Requesting a Concern for Welfare Check

It is important to recognise and distinguish between a general member of the public and a family member who call police for assistance or express concerns for a person.

The caller may be a Good Samaritan or well-meaning member of the public acting in good faith or exercising the public-spirited duty. It is of the utmost importance to maintain trust and confidence in the ability of the Police to meet their needs and to be seen as sympathetic and engaged with our communities.

The Police will establish all the facts, so far as are possible, from the caller and consider if another partner agency is better placed to give support and assistance. If so, the caller will be signposted to that partner agency and given sufficient information and contact details to do so themselves. If due to circumstances beyond their control, the caller is unable to do so, the Police may take on that responsibility. This will depend on the facts known to the Police at that time.

In such circumstances the Police will create a ‘Command and Control’ incident log and grade the incident dependent upon the risk assessment (THRIVES) for dispatch purposes, to ensure the correct resource is applied to the incident in the most appropriate way. The caller is informed that the Police will attend to carry out a concern for welfare check and report back to them their findings.

RCRP and Children

Whilst RCRP covers children, special care is required when assessing the risks as they are usually vulnerable. Special concern must be exercised to ensure the child’s best interests are protected. FCC Operators will, in most circumstances, deploy officers to welfare calls involving children to meet the child’s best interests. All such calls will require a dynamic review by the FCC Supervisor and FIM to ensure that the safeguarding of children is maintained.

Where there is a real and immediate risk to the life of a child or of other serious harm, attendance is MANDATORY.

AWOL

Absent without Leave (AWOL) can apply to anyone detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 if they leave hospital without authorisation or fail to return to hospital following authorised leave – including restricted patients.

Hospitals are responsible for locating patients who are AWOL and maintain a duty of care but may request police assistance to search for the patient if they are particularly vulnerable or dangerous.

Police should consider whether it is more appropriate to record the patient as AWOL, wanted or a missing person. Recording an AWOL patient as a missing person may be justified if:

• there are suspicious circumstances
• the patient is vulnerable

The health care facility have statutory actions to carry out prior to any escalation to the Police. RCRP principles state that Police will only attend if the AWOL patient is in a life at risk situation (ECHR 2) or at risk from serious harm (ECHR 3) or the individual is subject to Section 18 MHA 1983 (power given to authorised persons to return patients to hospital from which AWOL).

Healthcare Walk Out

When someone walks out of a health care facility the duty of care remains with the hospital/surgery/medical facility. Under the RCRP Framework the Police do NOT carry out welfare checks on people that have recently been a patient unless there is an ‘immediate risk to life’ or the patient is at ‘immediate risk of serious harm’.

Incident Transfer – To/From Another Force or Agency

This policy adopts the national position in relation to incident transfer, to or from another force/agency, as outlined below.

Police Forces that receive a call relating to another force area should NOT directly apply the RCRP criteria. This is important as different forces and their partner agencies may have different services and agreements in place on how they respond to specific calls. These may not be known by the force taking the report.

In these situations, the receiving force will obtain full information and pass the details to the force where the incident occurred as they usually would. The main difference is that the receiving force must make it clear that their role is to simply to pass the information to the relevant force who will decide their response.

The caller must not be left with the perception that they will receive a specific response but rather that they will be contacted and advised by the force where the incident took place.

Forces that are passed information from another force should accept the report and apply RCRP as they usually would. The receiving force should not push-back to the reporting force where the call falls within RCRP and should instead establish contact with the original caller, advising them directly as to the response they may provide or signpost the caller to alternative services as appropriate.

There are specific agreements in place for a number of agencies such as Interpol, Crimestoppers, Action Fraud who act on behalf of UK police forces in receiving reports. As such, these agencies do not have the ability to signpost to other agencies or make enquiries themselves.

 

Death or Serious Injury (DSI) Cases and Referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

The force has a statutory obligation (under the Police Reform Act 2002) to refer itself to the IOPC for all DSI matters. The responsibility for submitting referrals sits with the Professional Standards Department (PSD).

A DSI matter is defined as any circumstances (unless the circumstances are or have been the subject of a complaint or amount to a conduct matter) in, or as a result of which, a person has died or sustained serious injury and:

• At the time of death or serious injury the person had been arrested by a person serving with the police and had not been released or was otherwise detained in the custody of a person serving with the police; or
• At or before the time of death or serious injury the person had contact of any kind – whether direct or indirect – with a person serving with the police who was acting in the execution of their duties and there is an indication that the contact may have caused – whether directly or indirectly – or contributed to the death or serious injury. However, this subcategory excludes contact that a person who suffered the death or serious injury had whilst they were acting in the execution of their duties as a person serving with the police.

The term ‘serious injury’ means a fracture, a deep cut, a deep laceration or an injury causing damage to an internal organ or the impairment of any bodily function.

It is important that any matter that may amount to a DSI is brought to the attention of PSD so that an initial assessment can be undertaken to determine it meets the definition of a DSI and consequently whether it needs to be referred to the IOPC.

Whether or not a DSI matter requires an urgent referral is dependent upon the circumstances. For example, an IOPC DSI referral may need to be made immediately and without delay if there has been a death following direct police contact and there is a live evidential scene. As such and in more urgent cases, contact should be made with PSD immediately, utilising the PSD staff on call function if necessary (as referrals to the IOPC can be made outside of officer hours). In any event, DSI matters should be brought to the attention of PSD no later than the next working day.

It will be the responsibility of the on-duty FIM to assess and review the need to refer such incidents to PSD for the attention of the IOPC.

Of importance, it should be noted that even when a decision is made not to deploy police resources to concern for safety calls within the guidelines of the RCRP policy, an IOPC referral will still be made if the referral criteria for DSI cases are met.

Definition of Transport

The definition of ‘transport’ covers cases where patients are both compulsorily transported under the Mental Health Act, and requests for police to support transport of a patient outside of the Act including:

• Taking patients to hospital to receive medical treatment for physical conditions or injury, including victims of crime and those involved in traffic collisions
• Taking patients to hospital to be detained for any assessment or treatment
• Transferring patients between hospitals, or other health facility
• Taking or returning patients who are subject to guardianship to the place their guardian requires them live
• Taking patients to, and between health-based place of safety
• Transferring patients between hospital, including special hospitals, court and/or prison
• Returning patients home from hospital, or any other health facility

Legal Duty and Police Powers

There is no legal duty for police to transport people to health care settings to receive treatment. However, there may be an occasion where an officer is required to accompany a person to hospital. This includes –

• Individuals in police custody following an arrest
• Individuals detained under Section 135 or 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983
• Individuals detained under the Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Returning patients to hospital if they are absent without leave (AWOL)
• Returning people to hospital if they are on a community treatment order (CTO), or conditional discharge and have been recalled
• Transferring patients between hospital, including special hospitals, court and/or prison

An ambulance or other suitable vehicle, with health staff, will normally be the most appropriate method of transporting an individual in need of, or who is receiving mental health support.

Section 135 Transfers to Health Care Settings

When taking a person to a place of safety by virtue of a Section 135 warrant, the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP), s12 Doctors, Hospital Manager should ensure that transport is available in accordance with the S.135 Multi Agency (Police/Health & Local Authority) Policy.

Section 136 transfers to Health Care Settings 

When an officer detains an individual in a public place using their power under the Mental Health Act 1983 s.136, they must request an ambulance. A health-based vehicle should be used to transport all s.136 detentions.

Deprivation of Liberty Status (DoLS) Transportation

Deprivation of Liberty Status (DoLS) transportation Officers may be requested to assist in conveying a person with a Deprivation of Liberty Status [DoLS] to a particular address. There is no legal obligation for Officers to respond to requests to transport, and it is unlikely these requests involve circumstances carrying the type of real and immediate threat necessary to engage a duty on the police to act.

Unless the DoLS specifies police involvement is needed, or there is an immediate risk to the individual (ECHR article 2 or 3), then police will not be deployed to transport the individual.

Taken from Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) – Mental Capacity Ltd DoLS definition is:

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is a vital part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) which protects the rights of individuals 18 years and older who cannot consent to their care and treatment, in a care/nursing home or hospital, while said care and treatment amount to a deprivation of liberty.

As a statutory act, it is the legal obligation of any managing authority (i.e. care/nursing home or hospital) to apply for a DoLS authorisation where it is deemed necessary to deprive the individual of their liberty in order to safeguard and protect them.

Important: Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) will soon be replaced by Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS). However, as at May 2026, this change is yet to take place.

The Code of Ethics Principles are relevant to this policy -

• Courage
• Respect and Empathy
• Public Service

 

5. Take action and review

RCRP will form part of the well-established QA process within the FCC, with such call reviews undertaken to ensure compliance with this policy. Compliance within the FCC will be monitored through:

• Robust supervision
• FIM oversight
• Quality Assurance
• Themed Reviews undertaken by the FCC Performance Agenda

This policy will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it remains fit for purpose, to address any challenges to the policy and/or associated procedural documents and any changes to legislation and/or national guidelines.

The policy owner will instruct reviews to be carried out by the nominated people for the Force Communications Centre and the Mental Health Portfolio Lead.

The policy and procedure will be overseen by the Strategic Vulnerability and Prevention Board.

CODE OF ETHICS CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This policy has been drafted in accordance with the Code of Ethics and has been reviewed on the basis of its content and the supporting evidence and it is deemed compliant with that Code and the principles underpinning it.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACT CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This policy has been drafted in accordance with the Human Rights Act and has been reviewed on the basis of its content and the supporting evidence and it is deemed compliant with that Act and the principles underpinning it.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Section 4 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out the protected characteristics that qualify for protection under the Act as follows: Age; Disability; Gender Reassignment; Marriage and Civil Partnership; Pregnancy and Maternity; Race; Religion or Belief; Sex; Sexual Orientation.

The public sector equality duty places a proactive legal requirement on public bodies to have regard, in the exercise of their functions, to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other conduct that is unlawful under the Act;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

The equality duty applies to all protected characteristics with the exception of Marriage and Civil Partnership, to which only the duty to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination applies.

Carrying out an equality impact assessment involves systematically assessing the likely or actual effects of policies on people in respect of all the protected characteristics set out above. An equality impact assessment should be carried out on any policy that is relevant to the public sector equality duty. 

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMPLETED: May 2026