Written question WQ85568

Local Authority Emergency Duty Teams (EDTs) provide an emergency social work service for urgent situations which arise outside of normal office hours and cannot wait until the next working day. This service provides an assessment of risk and the provision of services. The service is available typically to the public and professionals. EDT social workers will be trained to respond to both children's and adult requests for help and support or urgent assessments.

Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act (1983) allow the police to take an individual to a place of safety, or keep an individual at a place of safety, for a mental health assessment when there are concerns about their mental health. All health boards provide places of safety for this purpose, including Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

We also expect all health boards to have arrangements in place to provide mental health support if individuals present outside of normal working hours, with response times in place for crisis and urgent response

In 2021/22 we provided an additional £6m to support improvements to crisis care services. This included the implementation of 24/7 access to urgent mental health support via 111. Health boards are at different stages of implementation, but our aim is for all Wales coverage by the end of this year, including in North Wales.

From this year we have allocated an additional £4.9m of recurring mental health service improvement funding to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) against a number of priority areas, including mental health crisis and out of hours provision. Welsh Government has recently approved proposals from BCUHB to utilise this funding which include further support for e implementation of a North Wales mental health single point of contact hub which will be accessed via 111. This service will provide direct access to a mental health practitioner and will be phased in, with the aim of 24/7 coverage.