St John NT and Darwin Head to Health partners to ease hospital pressures

St John NT has partnered with a Top End mental health clinic in an effort to ease strain on hospitals and offer ‘better care’ to patients. Read how it will work.

Two health organisations have partnered to ease pressure on Darwin hospitals and provide better care to mental health patients.

St John NT Northern Regional Manager James Stewart said the organisation’s work with Darwin Head to Health would ensure Territorians in mental health distress received “bespoke” treatment without the overwhelming environment of an emergency department.

“Mental health patients receive good care in ED, however the environment isn’t optimal for the treatment of mental health, there are a lot of distracting factors going on,” Mr Stewart said.

“Here (Darwin Head to Health) is a really nice, calm, safe environment where people can relax, people can feel safe, and you’re not dealing with crises in the bed next door.”

St John NT Northern Regional Manager James Stewart said the newly formalised partnership between the two services would ease pressure on hospital emergency departments. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The latest data shows waiting times in Northern Territory emergency departments is more than 9 minutes longer than the national average.

The median wait time rose o 29 minutes in 2021/2022, the highest its been since 2018.

Mr Stewart said the ambulance operators dealt with multiple mental health call-outs on a shift and patients were often in complex environments.

“For some conditions, obviously you’ll get the best care at ED but for people in acute mental health crises, this is a really amazing facility,” he said.

“It’s really reassuring for us as an emergency healthcare provider to have this partnership, enabling us to just give that amazing healthcare end to end from the beginning so people feel enabled to call an ambulance knowing that they’re going to receive the right care.”

The partnership between the ambulance provider and Darwin Head to Health is the only of its kind in the Territory, but Mr Stewart said the ambulance provider was “really keen to expand our partnerships”.

Darwin Head to Health Clinical Service Manager Pam Marwood said the partnership would prevent patient overwhelm. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Darwin Head to Health Clinical Service Manager Pam Marwood said the clinic had helped more than 1200 patients since its doors opened in January 2022.

Ms Marwood said clinical staff, mental health nurses, occupational therapists and social workers were on hand at the Casuarina clinic to support patients.

“A lot of people who present here, they may be worried about their own safety so they were having thoughts of harming themselves in some way,” she said.

“They might just be really struggling with crises in their personal life and need some assistance to resolve it.”

Darwin Head to Health typically cares for patients over 18 but occasional helps Territorians as young as 16.

The partnership comes as a code yellow was called for Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital on Wednesday thanks to a steady increase in patient admissions.

Elective surgeries have not been deferred at this stage and plans to reallocate resources and support for admissions and discharges are in place.

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Originally published as St John NT and Darwin Head to Health partners to ease hospital pressures