Page 1574 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2011
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research and a public health organisation focused on improving the health of disadvantaged and marginalised populations. This review relates to the work of both ACT Health and the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the people who participated in the review, including ACT Health and corrections staff, non-government service providers, prisoners and ex-prisoners of the AMC and community-based service providers—and the Burnet Institute, of course, for doing the evaluation.
As members of the Assembly will know, the government gave a commitment to undertake an evaluation of the drug policies and services provided to prisoners at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in accordance with ACT Health’s adult corrections health services plan 2008-12. The evaluation was conducted as a joint initiative of ACT Health and JACS, with myself as ACT Minister for Health taking the lead on the evaluation within the government.
In December 2009 an evaluation advisory group was established. Members of this advisory group were invited from a range of relevant organisations, including ACTCOSS, the CPSU, the ANF, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform, the ACT Aboriginal Justice Centre, the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, the ACT alcohol and other drug sector, the Mental Health Community Coalition, the Pharmacy Guild, the ACT Women and Prisons Group, ACT Prisoners Aid, the Chief Minister’s Department, ACT Corrective Services, the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety and ACT Health.
The approach used by the Burnet Institute for this evaluation included both qualitative and quantitative components, and included in-depth interviews with a range of key stakeholders, a desktop policy review, a literature review, a review and analysis of secondary custodial and service provision data and a review and analysis of the inmate health survey data which was collected in May 2010.
In conducting the review, the Burnet Institute also examined relevant documentation and conducted interviews with staff and prisoners as required. The Burnet report was provided to the government in January 2011, with a final version being provided to the government this week to incorporate some revised data relating to urinalysis and an erratum issue by the Burnet Institute to correct a factual error in the previous draft.
The report makes 69 separate recommendations. In our interim response, which is provided to members of the Assembly today, the government have agreed to 10 of the recommendations, agreed in part to one, agreed in principle to 27 and noted 31 recommendations. There are no recommendations which the government have rejected outright in our interim response.
It is important that I stress this is an interim response and further government consideration is required on some key recommendations prior to finalising a formal ACT government response. A key recommendation which has been agreed by the government is for ACT Health and JACS to develop a consolidated strategic policy framework to provide clear governance regarding drug-related policy and services.
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