Page 1410 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 June 2020
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However, whilst there is no single consolidated territory-wide model of care there are still several mechanisms that help to coordinate territory-wide planning and governance for mental health services. For example, a Territory-Wide Mental Health Management Committee, which includes members from ACTHD, CHS and CPHB, was established in 2019 to provide strategic and executive oversight of public mental health activity. This Committee has had an important role in monitoring and coordinating the availability and activity of hospital mental health services during the ACT’s response to COVID-19.
3) While the various models of care mentioned above are in place, all services operate according to common standards of practice - with patients being prioritised according to risk and treatment occurring in the appropriate treatment setting.
Consumers of mental health services are able to access community services through a single point of entry (the Access service which came on stream in November 2018; prior to that through the Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team) or, if they access services through the Emergency Department they are then referred to appropriate parts of the service. This means that consumers have been able to access coordinated services which respond in a consistent manner. Following access to any part of the service, consumers are then provided with appropriate care and treatment or referred on to those services identified as more appropriate to their needs.
In addition, there are several existing mechanisms, shared between CHS and Calvary, that help to ensure the ongoing coordination of mental health services and demand for consumers. These mechanisms include:
• a Patient Flow Coordinator who provides increased visibility of bed capacity across the territory and supports a proactive approach to increasing the movement of patients. This Coordinator reports twice a day on bed capacity, including all inpatient units and the identification of patients suitable to be cared for in other settings;
• the Home Assessment and Acute Response Team (HAART) service has been expanded to both CHS and Calvary services
4) As mentioned in the responses to questions 1 and 2, there have continuously been a variety of models of care for different disciplines within mental health services rather than a single consolidated model of care across the Territory.
a) See response to question two.
b) See response to question two.
c) Since a Territory-wide model of care is not able to be developed, no.
5) The absence of a single Territory Wide Model of Care has not prevented any decision about whether to gazette the emergency department at Calvary.
6) The government’s decisions about resource allocation are normally made in the Budget process.
7) A business case is not currently being developed for gazettal of the Calvary emergency department. Other options to improve patient outcomes are being developed and explored. These include the PACER trial, which will assess the viability of a tri-service (Police, Mental Health Services and Ambulance) model in responding to mental health requirements in the community and preventing people being taken to Emergency Departments, who have been triaged by the PACER team as not requiring transportation to hospital.
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