"15 is too far": Police ED handover times revised after safety concerns

Health New Zealand's confident the new target time for Police handing mental health patients over to ED is about right.  

The agencies had initially aimed to cut the handover time from an hour to 15 minutes as part of its phased response change plan. 

That's now been revised to 30 minutes. 

Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Director Karla Bergquist told Mike Hosking staff have been clear 15 minutes isn't enough time, and half an hour is more achievable.  

She says there will be places where it's not realistic to even meet that target, but there's flexibility built in for that. 

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