Professionals: Request a referral to the AMHP service

The Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) service is responsible for undertaking assessments in Liverpool, and in some cases outside the city.

Liverpool's service operates a hub and bespoke model with a dedicated AMHP team, supported by AMHPs based in community teams across Liverpool who undertake the AMHP role on a rota basis.

This process is for professionals such as GPs, mental health teams and acute inpatient services to request a mental health assessment for an adult who may pose a risk to themselves or others. We also accept referrals from the police and other emergency services, and prisons within Liverpool.

Before you make a referral

Before you request a referral you must ensure that you - or another professional worker - have seen and spoken with the person within the previous 24 hours.

If you are not the clinical team leader, team manager or senior worker, you must discuss the referral with a senior team member to rule out alternative support or treatment options before making a referral.

Once you have ruled out alternative support or treatment, you can make a referral online below.

Request a referral online

Before you start

If you don’t already have an online social care portal account, you must register first before submitting a referral.

As part of the registration process, we will send a security authentication code to your email address – we will do this each time you sign in.
Once registered, you can complete a referral, or save and come back to it.
Once you have an account you can use the same sign in details to submit other professional referral forms via the portal.

Before starting the referral please have the following information to hand, as you will need to provide this on the form:

Personal details of the person you are referring, such as name, address, date of birth and contact details.
Details of people in the household or significant other
If the person has caring responsibilities for adults or children
If the person has any communication or health needs
GP information
Reason for referral and details of previous contact with the person

You will also be asked to upload any relevant documentation such as risk assessments, care plans, medical recommendation or CTO paperwork, if applicable.

If a case is urgent and requires a response within 24 hours, call adult social care on 0151 459 2606.

If there is an immediate risk to the individual or others please ring 999 emergency services.

What happens next?

We will review your request to see if a mental health assessment is appropriate. We will contact you to discuss the circumstances in more detail.

We will check if other ways of helping the person with their mental health have been tried first – this may involve a crisis team or a review of the person’s social care needs.

If an assessment is appropriate, we will arrange this.

We prioritise referrals based on individual risk assessments, the person’s needs and the needs of others.

Find out what happens during the assessment.