After Hours Mental Health Nursing Service celebrated at Community Health First showcase

Our CEO, Agata Jarbin, and Program Manager, Sharon Alexander, were delighted to be invited to Parliament House this week to participate in the Community Health First showcase, where we had the opportunity to present our very successful After Hours Mental Health Nursing Service (AHMHNS) to elected representatives and our peers.

The AHMHNS was funded through the Eastern Melbourne PHN in 2019. This program is well suited to the purpose and ethos of Community Health, as its core focus is to divert people attending emergency departments with Category 4 and 5 mental health presentations.

We worked closely with the Eastern Health, Box Hill Emergency Department to establish diversion protocols which support people to be discharged with the purpose of attending the After Hours Service.

Shortly after the service began, COVID took hold, impacting the face-to-face presentations at the service. In response, we pivoted and established a free call number, which became a crucial support for many people in the community during this time.

Five years later, we have increased the number of Credentialed Mental Health Nurses year-on-year to meet increasing demand, totaling 6,800 episodes of support.

The service is situated opposite Eastern Health, Box Hill ED, and is available to anyone in the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network catchment who needs mental health support during the hours when services are closed.

We offer brief intervention, service navigation and medication review. No referral is required to access the service, and there is no cost. Our client-centered, values-based approach means that we support people to access the service in any way they choose, including walk-in and telehealth appointments.

A service evaluation in 2023 found that the initiative returns $3.24 for every $1 invested, which equates to $1.2m savings to the health system per annum based only on our current catchment.

The evaluation identified that the program is an excellent example of the true meaning of the word ‘diversion’, as many clients stated that once they use the service, they have no need to attend the emergency department for the same or similar reason again.

The evaluation also found that the service:

• Addresses a crucial service gap in local areas
  
• Links people to local ongoing mental health supports
  
• Offers greater flexibility and responsiveness than other after-hours supports and
  
• Offers connection and safety

Service users and referrers reported a very high level of confidence and trust in the service, citing follow-up with clients and referral to other community health supports and information, as a highly valued feature of the service.

The After Hours Mental Health Nursing Service is a prime example of Community Health’s capacity to prevent hospital presentations and keep people well in the community where they live.