THE number of calls to North Yorkshire Police about mental health issues has trebled over the last three years - a situation today branded "unacceptable".

North Yorkshire Police chiefs say that about 40 per cent of calls to the under-pressure force control room (FCR) relate to mental health issues rather than crime.

Estimates suggest the force has received more than 80,000 such calls in the eight months to the end of August this year.

Councillor Paul Doughty, chairman of the Health, Housing and Adult Social Care Policy and Scrutiny Committee for City of York Council, said the trend was “worrying”, “unacceptable”, and was echoed in control rooms around the country.

He said: “Our police force should not be the service of last resort for people with mental health problems. Were this to happen with physical health there would be a national outcry and the status quo is simply unacceptable."

Between January and the end of August this year, North Yorkshire Police received 51,687 emergency 999 calls. A spokeswoman said 13 per cent of all calls to the FCR “were not incident-related”, and 40 per cent of those remaining were mental health related - suggesting around 18,000 calls to the 999 number were concerned with mental health issues.

In the same period, there were 190,691 calls to the non-emergency 101 number. An estimated 66,000 calls were mental health related.

Cllr Doughty said: “Despite reassurances, we do hear from time to time from residents who have been unable to access mental health services and found multiple barriers in their way when they ask for help."

He added: "In light of the findings locally, I will be asking North Yorkshire Police to share their data with health scrutiny in order for us to better understand the issues they are facing and understand what all partners, including the council and NHS are doing to assist.”

Inspector Bill Scott, North Yorkshire Police’s lead for mental health, said the force had experienced a “threefold increase” in recorded calls “involving people with one form or another of mental health issues”.

He said: “Even with this level of increase, we believe we are still under-recording the true level of demand on policing services involving a component of mental health.

"We have been working extensively with the NHS and College of Policing in a £1 million collaboration to enhance the training our staff receive so we can improve our response to people experiencing mental distress.”

In January 2016, the force introduced mental health triage nurses to the FCR to help control room staff monitor calls and advise and support staff to help officers in the street when dealing with people in mental distress or crisis.

Insp Scott said work was ongoing to improve how the force and other agencies deal with mental health issues, and - where possible - direct calls and people to the appropriate authority.

He said: “The police are determined to improve the way we work with health services to identify, record, respond to, refer and review cases where mental distress is a potential component to ensure that people get the earliest possible intervention at the lowest appropriate, least restrictive level.”

In the last month, North Yorkshire Police has made changes to the way the force control room is run.

An operator service takes hundreds of calls each day, with an aim to redirecting calls to specific departments and helping support callers with specific issues, and a series of administrative tasks were also transferred away from the FCR, freeing up call takers’ time.