[Time-limits on collaboration between the emergency mental health services and the police: a practice-based evaluation in the City of Utrecht, the Netherlands].

National and regional agreements have been reached with regard to time-limits on collaboration between the emergency mental health services and the police. On the basis of 69 emergency cases attended by both the crisis-team and the police in Utrecht, we investigated whether the time-limits had been observed in that city. Of the cases 85% were dealt with adequately within 6 hours (in accordance with the national guideline and 20% within 2 hours (regional norm). The average time needed to reach an emergency case was 1 hour 35 minutes, but was longer when the emergency resulted from substance abuse. The average time required for case-assessment was 1 hour 25 minutes and was longer in cases requiring compulsory detention and in cases involving manic behaviour.