Page 3153 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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The service will be established during 1990 with responsibility for after hours care. The integration of day and after hours crisis care will occur as consultations with professional associations and unions will allow. In addition, a crisis worker will attend the accident and emergency department when a person with a psychiatric illness has arrived there and, as well as providing their own specialised help, will be able to ensure that any other measures required are rapidly implemented, including admission.
An objective of this service is to reduce the need for hospital admission. Nevertheless, a significant number of persons will require inpatient care as an essential first step in their treatment. The use of Woden Valley Hospital as a base for the service will ensure the coordination and cooperation necessary to achieve rapid hospital admission when the case requires it. Although hospital based, the crisis team will have its own staff and identity as part of the mental health service.
It is hoped that by having a community outreach team collocated with a psychiatric facility we can foster a continuum of integrated care which enhances the ability of those with a psychiatric disability to cope in the community.
As a bridge between community and hospital based care, the crisis team will need to develop a multi-disciplinary approach, fully utilising and cooperating with established mental health and community services, both government and non-government. The mental health service will continue to consult widely to ensure that the service complements rather than fragments the delivery of mental health care.
In summary, the service will employ specially trained staff who will provide, at all hours, telephone advice, assistance at home when required and specialised skills to the accident and emergency departments.
In the course of considering the requirements of crisis care, a number of groups and individuals put to me that the ACT should implement a form of extended after hours and crisis care that is provided in a few areas of New South Wales. It goes somewhat beyond a crisis service by providing continuing community care for a period of time and is therefore more costly and more staff intensive. It also overlaps, to some extent, with existing services. These proposals were given serious consideration, and I have talked to New South Wales staff employed in these services and taken the opportunity to visit a service of this type. I was impressed by their work.
However, there are a number of reasons for deciding not to use this approach at the present time. Firstly, I am advised that the eight or nine staff required would be obtained only at the expense of existing essential
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