Emergency specialists say proposed 15-minute police handovers for people in mental distress would be clinically unsafe.
“This change would represent a fundamental failure by police to perform their core task, which is keeping the community safe,” ASMS executive director Sarah Dalton says.
“EDs are hectic places, full of very sick, very vulnerable people. Adding unmanaged mental health patients into the mix will make them less safe.
“This reeks of disdain and abandonment for people in distress and people on the margins.”
ASMS ran a survey of specialists who work in ED and an overwhelming majority (88%) said it would not be clinically appropriate to have a 15-minute capped handover by police.
Of the small minority (12%) who thought it was clinically appropriate, 84% said their ED did not have the staff, systems or facilities to safely accept patients this way.
“We ran this survey because no one was asking the health professionals on the front line about this and considering their views,” Dalton says.
“ED specialists have made it really clear to us that they don’t believe this change would work.
“We urge police to reconsider this plan in the interests of public safety.”
Notes for editors:
The proposed change to 15-minute capped handovers represents Phase Four of the Police Mental Health Response Change Programme.
The ASMS survey results were based on responses from 156 members. The survey ran over King’s Birthday weekend. Results were shared with Health New Zealand.
