Services that Manage the Care Needs of Drunk - Scottish Government

Tasmania identified a specific need for alcohol and drug training for staff in
sobering-up services in that state. 17
2.21 Other staff qualities are likely to be important in providing a sobering-up
service too. For example, one report, citing the manager of a service in Alice
Springs, indicated that a caring environment with non-threatening and nonjudgemental
staff was one of the keys to success in a sobering-up centre. 18
2.22 It is perhaps worth mentioning that gender was mentioned as an issue in the
staffing of sobering-up shelters in Australia. Because of the requirement to
provide intimate personal care to clients who are intoxicated and vulnerable, it
was seen to be important to provide both male and female staff where a
shelter accepted both male and female clients. 19
Referring agencies
2.23 Clients are generally brought to the service by the police, or by communitybased
night patrols (described further in Chapter 4). In some areas, the police
will contact the night patrol and ask them to collect an intoxicated person from
the police station. 20 Some facilities also received referrals from hospital
Emergency Departments (as a place to discharge intoxicated people following
treatment when they had no where else to go), and some accepted selfreferrals.
21
2.24 An evaluation of a rural sobering-up service over a 10-year period found that
62% of the shelter’s referrals in that period were made by staff of the local
hospital (which was located next to the shelter) or staff of the shelter itself.
Only 25% of referrals came from the police, and 9% came from the local night
patrol service. 22 In the Canberra service, the majority of referrals overall came
from the police and very few came from the hospital. 23
Admission criteria
2.25 The admission criteria for sobering-up services in Australia appears to vary.
For example, to be admitted as an client of the Canberra sobering-up shelter,
an individual must be:
• 18 years of age or over
• Referred from within the Australian Capital Territory
• Incapable of protecting him / herself from physical harm
17
Healthcare Management Advisors Pty Ltd, 2008.
18
Parliament of Victoria, 2000.
19
Allen-Kelly and McArthur, 2005.
20
Parliament of Victoria, 2000.
21
The point was made in the literature that not all shelters will accept self-referrals. It is not clear how
individuals who are severely intoxicated arrive at the shelter, although it is possible that some are
brought there by members of the public.
22
Brady et al, 2006.
23
Allen-Kelly et al, 2006.
10