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We are the only emergency ambulance service in greater Wellington and the Wairarapa, and the only ones in the country who are free.
We are the only emergency ambulance service in greater Wellington and the Wairarapa, and the only ones in the country who are free.
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Co-response for mental health emergencies
Co-response for mental health emergencies
03 August 2020
In March this year, we partnered with Wellington District Police and Capital & Coast DHB to better respond to mental health emergencies in Wellington city. Paramedic Christine is part of the new Co-Response Team that also includes a police officer and mental health clinician. The team provide enhanced on-scene care to people in need of an emergency mental health response.
The volume of mental health-related calls to emergency services has been increasing in recent years. From 2018 to 2019 alone, the total volume of mental health-related calls for service to Police increased by 12 per cent.
While emergency services do the best they can when dispatched to mental health-related events, the CRT partners have recognised an opportunity to improve the emergency response provided to people in mental health distress.
Over the years Christine has helped many patients in mental distress but paramedics are not experts in providing on-scene mental health support, which can result in a large number of people being unnecessarily transported to emergency departments or police stations.
“Often at scene we take over the care of the patient and deescalate the situation with our colleagues from Police. But working together and sharing information between us, Police and a mental health clinician has been incredibly valuable to provide better outcomes for our patients.”
Christine is extremely passionate about mental health and explains that being part of the team has been a fantastic opportunity to learn lots, increase her knowledge and make significant change.
“Working with the team has been fantastic and incredibly insightful to how we can work better together” says Christine.
“People in mental health distress often call emergency services for help,” says Paul Fake, Executive Director of Quality, Improvement and Innovation at Wellington Free Ambulance. “We want to ensure people and their whānau receive the most appropriate care with support from their own networks where possible.”