A consensus agreement between national policing and health organisations in England has been published. It highlights the common ground between policing and health and recognises the overlap between the social determinants of health and crime such as housing, education, work and income. Those who are or are at risk of offending as a group are more likely to suffer from multiple and complex health issues, including mental and physical health problems, learning difficulties, substance misuse and increased risk of premature mortality.

The consensus has synergy with the Policing Vision 2025 and the NHS Five Year Forward View, and acknowledges that working collaboratively across the system is key to preventing crime and protecting vulnerable people in the modern policing environment. The consensus is designed for local place based leaders and senior management teams to have a platform on which to negotiate service delivery with their strategic and local partnership frameworks.

The consensus provides a focus for joint working and sets out a joint commitment to embed prevention across the system, supported by a national multi-agency work plan and working group. It’s available at: https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/policing-health-and-social-care-consensus

The consensus is supported by a landscape review of policing and health collaborations in England and Wales. This document provides a snapshot of existing joint working, along with case studies and analysis of the barriers and enablers to effective partnerships. It’s available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-and-public-health-collaboration-across-england

The Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing have also recently published a practical resource on police and health information sharing. It’s available at: https://informationsharing.org.uk/healthandpolice/

As part of the plan to implement the consensus agreement, we are exploring whether colleagues would be interested in being part of a police and health professional network – if this is something you might like to get involved in or would like more information about, please contact [email protected]  .