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Bedfordshire trials new response team for mental health emergencies

Video report from ITV Anglia's Sarah Cooper.

A new emergency response team is being introduced in Bedfordshire that will see a police officer, a paramedic and a mental health worker working together.

The Mental Health Street Triage is the first of its kind in the county. They will respond to calls together in one car.

The year-long pilot is designed to make sure people going through a mental health crisis are given the right care.

The new response team includes a police officer, a paramedic and mental health worker. Credit: ITV Anglia

"We respond to over 200 mental health related incidents every month.

If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, do you really want to see police officers turn up?

However compassionate they might be, are they the right professionals?

And, actually, what these people will be seeing now, are the right people.

So, if you're in a mental health crisis, you will be getting the right level of support and the right professionals coming to help you."

– Chief Inspector Jaki Whittred, Bedfordshire Police