Specialist paramedics to help with mental health
As demand for mental health care increases, London Ambulance Service (LAS) is responding with a new team of specialist paramedics. The amount of patients seen by the service or mental health support has nearly doubled in the past three years with LAS saying it has attended 99,287 mental health related calls in the year to 31st January 2026. Over two million people in the capital are reported to have experienced poor mental health every year.
In a first for London, four specialist paramedics will be deployed to care for the growing number of patients, travelling to those with the most complex mental health conditions including those at a risk of suicide.
The specialist paramedics come with “additional skills and training and significant experience as paramedics,” allowing them to “provide a more in-depth assessment of patients experiencing a mental health crisis,” LAS said. The training allows them to “better consider other relevant information such as physical, medical and social factors that affect mental health including social isolation, trauma responses, substance abuse, medication issues and sleep deprivation.”
This follows the success of the Mental Health Joint Response teams which saw paramedics teaming up with a mental health practitioner. The new specialist paramedics will also work in the service’s 999 control room to assess mental health calls and decide which patients would need the life-saving care of their colleagues.
Over the last decade, LAS has increased its mental health team, now boasting experienced nurses, social workers, and occupational therapists working in the control room and mental health joint response cars. Since 2020, the joint response cars have attended over 39,000 patients in a mental health crisis, with the most recent data showing that just 14% of patients seen by the team being taken to an emergency department.
“This response provides the patient with a better experience in their own home, ensure that ambulances are available for other life-threatening emergencies and supports our colleagues in busy emergency departments,” LAS said.
If you need urgent care for your mental health, get help from NHS 111 online or call 111.
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