BEST PRACTICE
“You can wait months, if not years, for such treatment on the NHS, but our psychotherapists can provide it as soon as possible here, if it’s appropriate for your trauma issue,” explained Jim. “All of these services are preventing people from going on long-term sick leave, helping them come back to work more quickly, or preventing them from going on sick leave in the first place. We’re helping officers, both in mind and body here. It’s helping our members in their lives in general, both their personal and professional lives. In turn, they’re stronger in themselves, and, therefore, much better at delivering an effective police service to the public. We believe that what we have created here ultimately provides a public good – cops who can serve the public to the best of their ability.” National Chief Police Medical Officer Professor John Harrison and the Shadow Policing Minister, Alex Norris MP, have both, separately, visited Jim and the team recently in order to see, first hand, the range and type of services being provided. On his visit, Professor Harrison commented: “I was really impressed with the range of support being provided to police officers. I took note, particularly, of the innovative approach to resourcing healthcare support, filling the gap that exists currently between police healthcare needs and NHS provision. “This will clearly benefit individual police officers in need of support, their colleagues who would otherwise have to carry additional workloads, and the force via improved performance and resilience.” The local Federation also delivers ‘Group Therapy’ sessions in their office, proactively reaching out to officers who carry out very challenging functions. In addition to that, two-day Mental Health First Aid training courses are delivered on-site, on a regular basis, which have resulted in hundreds of officers in Northumbria becoming formally
accredited mental health first aiders. On top of all of those services, the team
constantly strives to explore other means to support its members. Examples include:
• An ongoing programme to support the opening of new gyms in police stations,
• The funding of events which seek to support the entirety of the
and assisting in the refurbishment of others, across the force.
• The sponsorship of a number of force
membership, or discrete groups within it, including long service awards, pride in policing awards, student officer attestation events, area command and departmental awards, and the events of numerous support associations.
“We believe that what we have created here ultimately provides a public good – cops who can serve the public to the best of their ability.”
• The provision of a number of holiday homes in Northumberland and the
sports teams.
• The organisation and delivery of local Post Incident Procedure Conferences.
• The funding of 600 PSA (prostate cancer) tests for officers in the force,
with the force.
• Ongoing work with the local NHS Mental Health Trust to explore opportunities to
which was a collaborative initiative with the force’s Men’s Network.
fast-track police officers, who are having to deal with duty-related mental health issues, to receive appropriate NHS support and treatment.
Further to all of that, Jim and the team manage the National Police Healthcare
Lake District, directly managed from the Federation Office, at the lowest rates possible
• The provision of a state-of-the-art Welfare Van, which was a collaboration
Scheme in their office, with dedicated and separately employed administrative staff. Dating back to 1989, and formerly called the Northern Police Healthcare Scheme, the scheme provides serving and retired police officers, police staff, and their families with swift access to the best private medical healthcare at not-for-profit rates. The scheme has grown considerably in recent years, with formal arrangements with 18 local Police Federations and now has close to 8,000 members nationally. Jim said: “We provide the scheme completely free to student officers for the first year, and free to substantive officers and staff for the first three months. “In addition, over and above the core provision of private healthcare, the scheme pays for Police Treatment Centre membership for every police officer member, every police staff member, and every Police Federation staff member. Over and above that, our healthcare members also
have exclusive use of luxury holiday homes, owned by the scheme, located in a tranquil and beautiful setting in Northumberland. “In short, members of the National Police Healthcare Scheme can access private healthcare at not-for-profit rates; they can also access treatment at the Police Treatment Centres and do not have to pay any separate subscription and have exclusive use of genuinely luxury holiday homes at not-for-profit rates. Just like we have done with all our initiatives, we have tried to build in as much benefit and real value into the scheme as possible.” Summing up, Jim concluded: “The whole
Fed team here in Northumbria, including the full-time and local reps, our office staff, our receptionists, our team of clinicians and psychotherapists, and the staff employed by our schemes, all continue to work tirelessly to build and deliver a local Police Federation service which is always relevant to the needs of our members and provides real value to them.”
35 | POLICE | APRIL | 2024
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