This section of the website and associated resources are aimed at supporting chief officer and senior leadership teams across policing in England and Wales. The resources will assist them in engaging with local healthcare commissioners in order to work towards better police-informed healthcare.
Introduction
Over the past two years, we’ve worked with a team of experts in policing, the NHS, and Integrated Care Systems to develop an approach for policing in engaging with NHS services.
This practical support from Oscar Kilo aims to discover and develop shared approaches between policing occupational health teams and health partners for improved efficiency, resource use and experiences in healthcare.
It has been developed following a small pilot in two police forces and the lessons learned from these pilots have formed the basis of this resource.
By creating this resource and helping police forces initiate and progress conversations with their local Integrated Care Boards (England) and Health Boards (Wales), the hope is that through shared expertise, resources and commitment, this partnership will sustain the health and resilience of police officers, ensuring their continued ability to serve and protect the community.
There is a critical connection between crime and harm in community health and the physical and mental health challenges faced in policing, so a partnership between policing and the NHS solidifies a commitment to the wellbeing not only of our staff, but also of the communities they serve.
Purpose
The purpose of this work is to help forces explore the following areas in partnership with their health care commissioners, at a local level:
Health inequalities and outcomes experienced by the police workforce caused by their unique role in communities and the impact on access and experience of healthcare and local support offers. Specific areas include access to mental health support for PTSD, management of police officers presenting in Emergency Departments, and emergency dentistry.
The opportunity to enhance productivity between police occupational health and NHS professional services to increase efficiency and capacity for both teams.
- The creation of a dataset which supports the demonstration of the impact of police capacity and engagement on place-based approaches to population health and economic outcomes.
What we've created
This resource contains:
- A ‘lessons learned’ document with helpful tips for forces to consider before embarking on this work.
- A pre-drafted letter that can be used by Chief Officer Teams to initiate contact with their Integrated Care Board or Health Board Chief Executives*.
- A PowerPoint presentation that can be localised by forces to present the proposed detail of the partnership to Integrated Care Board or Health Board and / or stakeholders.*
- A user persona document to describe the suggested key roles required to facilitate the partnership.*
- A stakeholder / RACI matrix to identify and define roles and responsibilities.*
*Due to the differences in the structure of the NHS in England and in Wales, each of the above resources has been tailored to cover both countries.
The resources can be accessed at the bottom of this page.
With special thanks to Claire Darbyshire, the current NPCC Programme Director for Centre for Data & Analytics in policing for leading this work, creating the content for these resources and using her expertise in initiating engagement between NHS and police leaders.
Why we're doing it
The Police Covenant is a recognition by government, policing, and society, of the sacrifices made by those who work or have previously worked in our police forces. It is intended to ensure that officers, staff, volunteers, and their families are not disadvantaged because of their service in the police and seeks to mitigate the impact that this may have on day-to-day life.
A principal component of the covenant is ensuring that healthcare provision for serving and former police officers, police staff, special constables and their families at least matches that for the general public in their locality.
It is known, both anecdotally and academically that there is a real need to ensure that appropriate and timely support in in place for all officers and staff.
We've taken real insight, directly from officers and staff about why it is important that we address this:
The evidence of health problems in policing
Not only do we have real insight, but academically, it is acknowledged that the health needs of the police workforce are considerably diverse to those of the general public.
The cumulative and compound exposure to harmful physical and mental health factors in policing the county, alongside the psychological and social factors they experience as members of the general population, are known to affect not only our workforce, but also their families, throughout active service and during retirement.
Evidence is accumulating about health problems in policing. The most recent survey of members of the Police Federation of England and Wales reports low levels of wellbeing and concerns about mental ill health. Reports of feeling stressed, anxious, or having low mood have increased from 77% in 2020 to 82% in 2023. Nearly half of respondents have sought help for their mental health from work, the NHS or elsewhere.
We also know that there is still a stigma associated with mental ill health in the police. Only half of respondents feel that the police service encourages people to talk openly about their mental health and would feel confident in doing so. Consequently, access to confidential mental health services outside of policing is essential.
The 2023 National Policing Wellbeing Survey found that wellbeing is a major issue for many individuals across the policing workforce. High levels of burnout and fatigue, anxiety, not being able to recover from stressful incidents, the negative impact of working shifts, difficulty to recover from high work demands through impaired rest days and poor sleep quality, and difficulty ‘switching off’ outside of working hours have been identified.
The SAFER (Sleep, Alertness and Fatigue in Emergency Responders) programme reported a high prevalence of sleep disorders, with more than half of the participants (57%) screening positive for the risk of at least one sleep disorder. A high prevalence of sleep disorder risk was found, with more than half of the participants (57%) screening positive for the risk of at least one sleep disorder.
In the UK's first survey to assess trauma management and working conditions in UK policing, responses from 18,175 officers and staff from across the UK were collected between October and December 2018. Headline findings set the UK’s first Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) prevalence rate in policing at 1 in 5 and the world’s first Complex PTSD rate in a working population.
The prevalence of PTSD, at 8%, was higher than the reported prevalence in the UK Armed Forces. Frequent, sometimes daily, exposure to a wide range of psychological trauma in policing appears to increase the risk of the development of PTSD, with consequences for police occupational health services and for NHS mental health services.
Accessing NHS health services such that there is timely assessment and, where appropriate, treatment is important to ensure that police personnel are not disadvantaged in their roles by the impact of work-related health conditions.
Access to diagnostic imaging and consultant (specialist) opinions is also a barrier to effective case management. Musculoskeletal and cardiovascular conditions impact police officers and staff, often related to the physical demands of the roles and the requirement to work 24/7 shifts. The need for urgent treatment and appropriate follow-up of injuries due to assaults is a particular concern.
The body of evidence presented demonstrates that certain health conditions are more prevalent amongst some police officers and staff compared to in the general population, and that those health conditions are work-related.
It is also uncontentious that serving in the police requires police officers, and some police staff, to approach danger in the course of their duties. Provision of healthcare should not only ensure that there is no disadvantage to serving, but also recognise the sacrifices that are made to protect communities.
Unlike the military, the police are dependent on the NHS for healthcare and treatment. The familiar challenges affecting NHS delivery – leading to long waiting times and difficulty accessing specialist care for non-urgent treatment – have led to police forces investing in their own healthcare systems to build resilience.
Resources
As described above, the following documents are available for you to download and use locally. Due to the differences in the structure of the NHS in England and in Wales, each of the documents have been tailored to cover each country - please use the two boxes below to access the relevant document sets.
- A ‘lessons learned’ document with helpful tips for forces to consider before embarking on this work.
- A pre-drafted letter that can be used by Chief Officer Teams to initiate contact with their Integrated Care Board or Health Board Chief Executives*.
- A PowerPoint presentation that be localised by forces to present the proposed detail of the partnership to Integrated Care Board or Health Board and / or stakeholders.
- A user persona document to describe the suggested key roles required to facilitate the partnership.
- A stakeholder / RACI matrix to identify and define roles and responsibilities.
If you would like to add your force logo to any of the documents and need the original design files - please contact us via email.