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David Wills: Nurses' Society National Director on the reduced police ED handover time for mental health callouts · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So police and Health New Zealand moving into the final
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: stage of this mental health call-out change. So basically what
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: they were planning to do was hand over patients at
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: emergency departments within 15 minutes. That was going to be
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the final stage. They've now changed that to 30 minutes.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: So cop goes in, hands over, 30 minutes, done and dusted,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: wash your hands, off you go. David Wills, National Director
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of Nurses Society with me this morning. David, good morning.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Kia ora.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Nice to have you on the show. So what do
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you think about this final stage, the handover situation?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Well, certainly the decision, because bear in mind this was
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: all driven by the police. It's referred to as a
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: joint program, but this is a change that the police
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: wanted to reduce their amount of time they spent in
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: EDs and their involvement with mental health cases in particular. Okay,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: it's good that they've now given up the idea which
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: was driven by the police of a 15 minute maximum
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: handover time. But 30 minutes looks like it could still
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: be highly problematic for both patients and staff. Their own
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: data showed that half the time it took more than
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: 30 minutes for a handover during the pilot phase of
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: reducing it down to 60 minutes and in fact even
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: with 60 minutes only in about 80% of the time
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: was that adequate. So 30 minutes, highly problematic potentially, lots
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: of extra pressure on health professionals and ED staff.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: David, I'm imagining, can you just paint us a picture?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: How crazy are we talking? What's going on with this
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: person that they need a police officer to hand them
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: over to a nurse?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Well, these are people that have been brought in for
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: treatment under the Mental Health Act. who obviously have major problems.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: And historically, the police used to provide whatever support. There
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: was no particular timeframe. Now, obviously, the police have wanted
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: to standardize this. Hence, they initiated this program. But if
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: we look overseas, for instance, other jurisdictions do have a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: time limit. In the UK, it's 60 minutes.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: In Canada, depending on the province, it's anything.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: From 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Gotcha.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: It's not longer. But David, what would be wrong if
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: we just left them in the waiting room? What are
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: they doing? How are they behaving?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: They're being transferred to ED staff and the police, essentially, historically,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: they have been there for support. Obviously, they're not health
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: professionals and nurses and other health professionals do not want
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the police involved in patient-facing roles unnecessarily.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Do they need restraining?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: They may well need restraining or at least their mere
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: presence because let's face it, the police's primary role, both
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: generally for the community, is public safety. And so their
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: presence assists in trying to prevent problems occurring and they
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: are there also when maybe some restraint or other support
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: is necessary. And essentially what you've got now is the
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: police pulling.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Back And the hospitals having to take over. Understand the issue. David,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for your time. David Wills, National Director,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Nurses Society. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: listen live to News Talk ZB from 5am weekdays or
• 3:28
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