Response to concern for welfare calls - Gwent Police, January 2019

On 29 January 2019 a member of the public contacted Gwent Police regarding concerns for the welfare of an elderly man. The member of the public was advised to contact the Ambulance Service.

The Ambulance Service went to the man’s home, but he declined medical treatment and appeared to have full mental capacity. The ambulance crew contacted the member of the public and advised them that they would need to make a referral to Social Services regarding their concerns. The Ambulance Service also contacted Gwent Police to update them. This information was noted on the log.

A social worker called Gwent Police on 30 January regarding the welfare of the same man. They were concerned that the Ambulance Service had not spent long enough with the man the previous day to be able to assess his mental capacity. The call handler advised the social worker that they would dispatch officers to check on the man. It was agreed that officers would contact the emergency out-of-hours Social Services number if they had concerns for him. The call was graded as a ‘priority’ incident.

The decision was reviewed by a police officer and, as a result, a second decision was taken not to deploy officers to carry out a welfare check, as the Ambulance Service had attended the day before, and the circumstances did not meet the requirements set out in force policy regarding welfare checks.

One of the man’s neighbours called Gwent Police on 31 January to report that they were concerned about the man, as they had not seen him for a week, which was unusual. Officers were dispatched to conduct a welfare check on the man. They gained entry to his home and found him dead. A post-mortem examination later found he had died from natural causes.

Our investigators reviewed police and ambulance documents as well as call recordings. They also obtained a statement from a supervising officer.

We were of the opinion that the police officer who reviewed the log and determined that police attendance was not required should have ensured that Social Services were made aware that police would not be attending, so that Social Services could take other steps to check on the man’s welfare if they wished. We were of the view that this could be dealt with by way of management action.

Our investigation highlighted some areas for improvement by the force around call handlers being made aware of the force policy on welfare checks and how it applies to them.

We completed our investigation in May 2019.

After reviewing our report Gwent Police agreed that the police officer who reviewed the log would receive management action. However, the police officer retired from the force before it could take place.

They also advised that they would review their policy on welfare checks, and provide further training on this to their call takers.