Page 2197 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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to law and order. Our police and other first responders often become the last resort if there is not adequate support and services for those that need help. Funding for mental health is vital not just for individual wellbeing but also for broader community safety. I am pleased that ACT Policing and other emergency services agencies have been able to work with JACS and the Minister for Corrections and Justice Health in a broader justice reform package designed to further help improve our community safety.
Recognising and improving mental health responses as part of a law enforcement approach is something that the delegation discussed with almost all the police forces we met with, as well as the London Ambulance Service. This year’s budget has provided funding for the development of a model that could be adopted for the territory where certain calls to the police and emergency services could receive a response from a specialist team composed of a mental health practitioner, an ambulance officer and a police officer. I look forward to the development of this model and to working with my colleagues the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and the Minister for Mental Health. I believe a model such as this could help improve mental health care as well as have a positive impact on the broader health and justice systems.
In addition to discussing mental health, the delegation was able to receive an in-depth insight into the broader operations and challenges faced by the London Ambulance Service, and I am grateful to the senior members of staff, along with others from the London Ambulance Service, who made time to sit down with us to provide a deeper understanding of their work and the challenges their service faces. Through our engagement with the London Ambulance Service it is clear that many of their challenges are not dissimilar to those we face in Canberra, albeit on a larger scale.
Like the ACT Ambulance Service, the London Ambulance Service has been going through staffing challenges. When speaking with front-line ambulance officers in London they were pleased to hear of our efforts to improve the professionalism of our ambulance service through the blueprint for change project and indicated that such workforce initiatives are important.
In recent years the London Ambulance Service have also been undertaking a data exercise to better understand the data they have, what this means and how it can be put to better service delivery. To this end they have created a business information service within their service model and engaged data scientists. This helps them to understand both what should be measured and how this information can guide work—things such as resource requirements, response times and the deployment of resources.
Here ACTAS has started this work. For example, the Chief Ambulance Officer has changed resource allocation to better reflect actual demand. This was based on an extensive analysis of data held by the agency. The chief officer has also committed to yearly reviews to ensure that resources reflect what the data is saying. Based on what is occurring in London, I believe ACTAS is heading in the right direction.
I was also delighted to meet with the male and female Australians who are now working for the London Ambulance Service, many of whom had joined after completing their training in Australia. London provides an invaluable experience for
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