Mass demand expected for Melbourne’s new ‘sobering up’ centre

First responders are worried how staff at Melbourne’s ‘sobering up’ centre will handle volatile situations, with demand on resources expected to blow out.

More than 4500 people are expected to be approached by staff if they require sobering up. Picture: supplied

The agency charged with running Melbourne’s new “sobering up” centre will be expected to seek out and offer help to drunk people at least 4500 times a year, with even more work to be handled through call outs.

The centre, which will serve most of the city alongside separate services targeted towards Aboriginal Victorians, is also set to be based in Collingwood.

New documents have detailed how the Andrews government will push ahead with its plan to decriminalise public drunkenness as questions remain over the scheme.

The push to replace the criminal offence with a health-led response from November this year has been welcomed by advocacy groups who say the laws unfairly affect Aboriginal Victorians.

Melbourne Streets Christmas period, 18 December. 11.46pm 2 drunk patrons outside of Waterside Hotel on Flinders Street. Picture: Tony Gough

But the state’s police and ambulance unions and other groups have raised serious concerns about the resources needed and how it will work with patients who become violent.

In an effort to answer these questions, the state government has put a tender looking for a provider who will aim to relieve pressure off emergency services.

A key measure of their success will be “assertive outreach” where workers will be required to find and support people who are drunk in high-demand areas during busy periods.

It is expected they would do this at least 4500 times a year as part of their contract.

But the government has not specified how many times the new sobering service will also need to respond to call-outs for assistance because of inadequate data.

In a sign of the challenging work ahead, bidders have also been asked detail how their staff will respond to difficult situations.

The Melbourne Streets; 12.51 am Police come across a drunk on Collins Street. Picture: Tony Gough.

This includes a call-out to help a 20-year-old “highly intoxicated” woman at Grosvenor Street Reserve or a 68-year-old man sitting in on the gutter on Smith St, Collingwood.

Workers will then have to assess whether these people need medical help, can be taken home or will be taken to the 24-hour sobering up centre for supervision.

Patients at the sobering up site can only be taken with their consent and police or paramedics will need to step in if they become a safety risk or need urgent care.

They could also be moved on to another service.

The state government has also created a list of hot spots it expects will be most heavily serviced for public drunkenness.

Inner-city night-life areas have all been flagged as areas of concern. Picture: supplied

Night-life areas such as Fitzroy, Richmond, St Kilda and the CBD are all flagged and will be a short drive from their base of operations.

However the government also anticipates demand in Deer Park, Ringwood, Noble Park, Springvale, Dandenong and university areas in Sunshine, Clayton and Bundoora.

“The potential high demand hot spots are concentrated in inner Melbourne and will be serviceable within a 25-minute drive time from the service location,” the document states.

“However, from time to time, service providers may need to travel further to local government

areas such as Brimbank and Greater Dandenong.

“Service providers must be able to demonstrate capacity to service the entire service catchment area and will be required to adjust their effort to meet demand.”