A new Suicide Prevention Hotline number will allow rail staff to contact the British Transport Police (BTP) directly in emergency situations where it is believed someone is about to attempt to take their own life.
Mark Smith, Head of Suicide Prevention and Mental Health for the British Transport Police, said that more than 400 life saving interventions have been made on the railways since April 2013 and some 45pc of these were made by local police force officers. “We obviously value the significant contribution our local police colleagues make to preventing suicide and attending incidents on the railway, but recognise that BTP officers have particular training and expertise which allows them to work safely and efficiently in railway environments and in cooperation with railway staff.”
BTP has force policy and procedures which specify how incidents involving suicidal people should be dealt with. This will often involve using powers of detention under the Mental Health Act, and the formulation of suicide prevention (PIER) plans. BTP and the industry have also built working relationships with health and social care services. One particular of this is the joint intervention team in London and a similar team is being launched in Birmingham, which has NHS mental health nurses working alongside BTP officers to provide advice.
Smith said: “Local police forces do not follow the same policies and procedures, and do not generally have the ready access to NHS advice and intelligence that BTP has. It is therefore of importance to BTP that we manage and control the response and outcomes to incidents so that our objectives in relation to suicide prevention and minimising disruption to the railway are pursued.”
BTP has introduced two new processes to help in suicide related incidents. Their ‘Force Control rooms’ will now ensure that BTP resources continue to attend incidents involving suicidal people on the railway even if local police officers get there first. In this way they can relieve the local officers of the tasks associated with dealing with the person concerned, and make sure their policies and procedures are complied with and links to NHS expertise exploited.
BTP have also introduced a new emergency only telephone line, called the “Suicide Prevention Hotline 0300 123 9101”. This number will be given to railway staff and certain mental health and social care institutions to alert BTP to emergency situations where it is believed someone is about to attempt to take their own life. BTP controllers answering this line will be aware of the necessary actions and procedures they need to adopt and communicate in order to minimise the risks to life.
BTP would prefer railway staff and relevant partners to call BTP directly on the new number rather than use 999. If rail staff call 999 from a ‘Railnet’ phone they will be asked whether they want to speak to BTP or local emergency services. However calls to 999 from any other phone will be routed to the local geographical police force. They in turn will generally inform BTP. Visit www.btp.police.uk
