The ACT Government has released a new five-year plan to improve the health and wellbeing of adult detainees in the ACT.

The ACT Detainee Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023-28 was developed in consultation with detainees and the people who provide health and wellbeing services to them.

Stakeholders said detainees needed better access to care, needed to know what health services were available, and how to access them. 

The strategy’s four strategic priorities are:

• Responsiveness: Improving person-centred care by ensuring culturally and individually responsive service delivery.
• Collaboration: Strengthening integrative responses by establishing collaborative and coordinated support systems for detainees, their families, and staff.
• Workforce: Building staff capability and satisfaction, by enabling confidence and competency, empowering our workforce to deliver safe, high-quality care.
• Governance: Ensuring strong, accountable governance by embedding accountability and supporting mechanisms that continuously improve systems and services.

“All Canberrans, regardless of their circumstances, deserve a world-class health system that is accessible, appropriate and easy to navigate,” Emma Davidson, ACT Minister for Mental Health and Justice Health, said.

Ms Davidson said the Strategy “represents a shared commitment … to deliver safer, higher-quality health care for detainees … and to minimise negative effects of imprisonment on people’s physical and mental health”.