A viewpoint from Canberra, Australia. 1930 phonecall from my teenage nephew, worried about his mum (who lives alone). 2000 I pick him up 2030 Get there, my sister is delusional, hallucinating, doesn't recognise either of us, doesn't know what day or month it is, and is covered with self-inflicted bruises and cuts. 2100 I'm out of my depth, in desperation phone 000 for ambulance. 2120 Ambulance arrives. After 10 mins, they agree that she needs hospitalisation, They don't even bother calling the Crisis Response Team (they never answer). Her Psychiatrist is out-of-state, his locum phones the CRT with no answer, so passes the buck to the paramedics. 2200 After 30 minutes of coaxing, ambulance team calls the cops who have the appropriate powers. 2245 My sister eventually agrees to go with them voluntarily. They've been trying to pursuade her all this time. Cops are still no-show. 2300 Arrive at hospital. My nephew and I keep talking to her, trying to get her re-oriented, while we wait in the ER after triage. 0130 She finally gets to see a psychiatric worker to be assessed. By this time, she'd lucid, her case-worker in contacted and they arrange a morning appointment for her. 0230 I drive her home 0330 Finally get to bed. That's about 2 hours of ambulance time taken up. I have nothing but praise for the crew concerned, they did everything possible. The system, however, Sucketh Big Time.