Strategy 3-Enhancing the Justice interface

Incorporating Recommendations 5, 6, 7, 12

This work has been progressed by the Justice Interface working group.

New weapons legislation: Implications for Victorian health services – Factsheet

Changes to the Firearms Act 1996 and the Control of Weapons Act 1990 came into effect on 1 November 2010. This factsheet outlines the changes and implications for health service employers and employees, and highlights what health services should consider when implementing these legislative changes.

 New weapons legislation: Implications for Victorian health services - Fact sheet (pdf, 332kb)

Building Better Partnerships initiative

In 2010, eleven health services were supported as demonstration sites for the Building better partnerships program. The health services were:

The aim of theBuilding better partnerships program was to facilitate better inter-agency management of factors/issues that occur at the interface of healthcare and key agencies such as police, ambulance and correctional services, that in turn, impact on the management and prevention of occupational violence.

Establishment funding was provided to the demonstration sites to support activities over a 12 month period. Some of the key activities for the demonstration sites were:

• Local needs analysis/risk assessment of interface issues

• Establishment of a collaborative committee with membership from relevant local agencies

• Appointment of a police & other agencies liaison officer within the demonstration site/health service

• Identification of, and engagement with key contacts within the local police service area and other local key agencies

• Update and implementation of policies and procedures relating to weapons management based on the guidelines, Deter, detect and manage a guide to better management of weapons in health services, distributed to all Victorian public health services in September last year

• Implementation of the Occupational Violence Incident Resolution Action Pack, aimed at improving the way health services and police respond to reports of assault against health care workers.

The successful elements of the Building better partnerships program have been identified for possible system-wide application. These are currently being incorporated into a report that will be available to health services in early 2012.

Deter, detect and manage: A guide to better management of weapons in health services

 Deter, detect and manage. A guide to better management of weapons in health services - updated December 2011(pdf, 908kb)

This guide to better management of weapons in health services has recently been updated to incorporate the changes to the Firearms Act 1996 and the Control of Weapons Act 1990 that came into effect on 1 November 2010. The guide provides direction about key operational, legislative and policy issues (as highlighted in recommendation 7 from the final report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Violence in Nursing) that health services need to consider when developing or reviewing their own weapons management policies and procedures.

Every days a Challenge

Every day’s a challenge: Responding to violence in Victorian health services was developed by the Department of Human Services (DHS) in collaboration with Victoria Police and WorkSafe Victoria to promote greater awareness and understanding about the impact of occupational violence in Victorian health services and how it can make every day a challenge for staff, visitors and clients.

This resource uses the experiences of real people such as police and health care workers, talking about real experiences and using their own words.  It will challenge viewers to think about their attitudes to, and beliefs about violence in healthcare and how their beliefs and actions affect others.

Every Day’s A Challenge is one part of a suite of initiatives to assist health services to prevent and manage occupational violence.  The DVD is available to health services.

Occupational Violence Incident Resolution Procedure

The development of an occupational violence incident resolution procedure for use by health care workers and police is currently underway. There will be a pilot of the resource in a metropolitan health service prior to dissemination to all health services.

Liaison with the Department of Justice is ongoing in relation to the review of legislation including the Crimes Act 1958 and Summary of Offences Act 1966 (Vic) and how the review of this legislation may impact on health care workers.