Page 1086 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 3 May 2022
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alongside our responses to vaccination, testing, the supported COVID Care@Home program, the Garran COVID-19 clinic and, of course, our hardworking acute services, who have continued to deliver for our community.
The ACT, of course, has led the way with our vaccination program. The COVID Care@Home program has been critical in the reduction of COVID-19-related presentations to the emergency department by managing patients with COVID treatments early and involving GPs to assist with ongoing care.
Our incredible clinicians have also been among the first to deliver new treatments to people who are identified as being at risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19 and, of course, those treatments continue to evolve as well. The nurse-led Garran COVID-19 clinic provides a walk-in service for people who have contracted COVID-19 and who require support for their symptoms or for other non-life-threatening health conditions while they have COVID.
It is an incredibly difficult time for our health system and it has been tremendously hard on our teams throughout the pandemic. I hear from Canberrans all the time how grateful they are to everyone across the health system because every day they come to work and provide innovative approaches to health care for our community.
The post-COVID recovery clinic is a fantastic nation-leading demonstration of this commitment, ensuring that Canberrans have the right supports in place for their recovery from this virus.
Dhulwa Mental Health Unit—safety
MRS KIKKERT: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Mental Health.
Information you provided in response to questions on notice reveal that there were 136 violent incidents at Dhulwa mental health facility in 2019-20; that there were 109 in 2020-21; and that in just seven months, from July last year to the beginning of February, there have already been 79 violent events. Minister, how many more attacks have there been on Dhulwa nurses since February this year?
MS DAVIDSON: There has been significant work over a period of years to try and reduce occupational violence across the whole of Canberra Health Services, and that includes Dhulwa. I mentioned earlier that there were quite specific circumstances that occurred during February that resulted in a particularly high number of incidents, but during March we had five incidents of occupational violence at Dhulwa. As at 28Â April for that month we had nine. That is significantly reduced from what occurred during February, and is much closer to the range of one to five incidents that occurred each month from July through to January. I hope that provides some information for you.
MRS KIKKERT: I have a supplementary question. Minister, what extra safety measures have you put in place to protect Dhulwa nurses from being attacked on the job today?
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