Adelaide mental health specialists to ride along with ambulance paramedics to take pressure of EDs
Mental health experts will travel with ambulances to crisis cases in a bid to treat people on site instead of them ending up stuck in clogged EDs.
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Mental health specialists will ride with ambulance paramedics in a bid to divert crisis cases from ending up in clogged hospital emergency departments.
The program follows the success of the Mental Health Co-Response (MH CORE) trial which saw more than half of patients assessed able to be diverted to more appropriate community services rather than simply being taken to an ED.
The Advertiser has regularly reported situations of multiple mental health patients being stuck in EDs for more than 24 hours after being treated while waiting for an appropriate placement, in turn adding to wait times for other patients to be treated.
The success of the pilot will see the program extended until June next year but will be limited to weekdays in central metropolitan Adelaide.
Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade said the program would complement other recent initiatives such as the plan to double the capacity of the Flinders Medical Centre’s ED.
“We have already invested more than $1 billion dollars into health and recently we announced over $84 million to expand health services in Adelaide’s south which are designed to significantly improve patient care and ease ambulance ramping,” Mr Wade said.
“We acknowledge there are significant challenges in the treatment of mental health patients through our emergency care systems and this program is helping to address that.
“If a patient can be diverted away from an emergency department towards more appropriate care in the community, that is a win for the patient and a win for our hospitals.”
The partnership between SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) and Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) joins up paramedics with specialist mental health staff when responding to patients in crisis.
SAAS chief executive David Place said on average, SAAS responds to more than 1400 calls involving mental health patients each month.
“The MH CORE program allows these patients to be assessed with fewer requiring transport to busy emergency departments,” he said.
“Being able to assess and treat mental health patients in a tailored manner not only benefits the patient, but keeps our paramedics on the roads and frees up staff in emergency departments.”
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Clinical director of the CALHN Mental Health Directorate Dr Leslie Stephan said the network was pleased to continue to support the program.
“We know that mental health patients have complex needs and require specialised care,” Dr Stephan said.
“Patients whose mental health deteriorates often become distressed by being in a busy and challenging environment such as a hospital emergency department. By responding with the right specialist care we are able to provide a more effective service.”