Ambulance Victoria is putting in place some new procedures to better support neurodivergent patients and staff. It's hoped the changes will help patients feel more comfortable in ambulances, which can cause sensory overload.
00:00The Neuroinclusion Toolkit, it's an online suite of resources and includes a mix of fact sheets, guides and videos and training for our workforce.
00:11It's been designed for everyone that works at Ambulance Victoria.
00:15So our leaders, employees working with neurodivergent colleagues, as well as paramedics and first responders delivering best care through a neuroaffirming lens.
00:24And so what sort of adjustments are being made or can be made as a result of learnings from this toolkit for your staff?
00:35Well, it really highlights inclusive everyday practices that kind of value and recognise the strengths in our diverse ways of thinking and communicating and working.
00:44And of course, through the patient experience.
00:47So the kind of collective awareness across the service around those adjustments that can be made will help us to better support and understand each other individually, but also how we deliver patient care.
00:59So it was really a, I guess, the toolkits kind of just come out of these wonderful partnerships that we had with Australian Disability Network and Amaze and their kind of expertise in leaders in creating disability inclusive workplaces.
01:13And when we look at the lived experience of our patients and our workforce as well, what we really heard was things like the sensory communication barriers that occur when a health emergency occurs and the kinds of adjustments that paramedics can make.
01:30So we listened to the community and we've taken those great insights and built them into some practical strategies by way of adjustments.
01:38So practical things like creating the sensory environment in the ambulance, so turning down equipment, lighting, encouraging people to bring their own sensory tools and aids into the ambulance and ultimately having a conversation between the patient and the paramedic about what adjustments can and can't be achieved.
01:56Yeah, and those adjustments, I would imagine, would very much so impact on patient care as well.
02:01Look, absolutely, Kath, and, you know, that was the message that we've been receiving back through our Disability Inclusion Program and our Disability Action Plan, where we really go out and we're constantly learning about what those adjustments are.
02:15But there's, of course, things that won't work in a health emergency, but it's at that awareness and that preparedness as well from both the paramedics' perspective and the community.
02:25So we've really kind of focused a dual lens, I guess, in the sense that we've now got information on our website, which will support community to be more prepared about what they can ask for, what they can't, and having that kind of conversation.
02:40And then in the background also with our paramedics, giving them some kind of practical insights about what those adjustments look like so that everyone's aware on the same page.
02:48So given this toolkit has been devised very much so through the lens of those who are neurodivergent and lived experiences, et cetera, what has their response been so far?
03:01Look, it's been really positive.
03:02And in particular, I'd just say that our toolkit also really focuses on a neuro-inclusive workplace.
03:08So we're talking about our neurodivergent workforce.
03:10So our paramedics, our people working across the organisation in our non-operational spaces who identify as neurodivergent.
03:19So there's some really great practical resources for them, whether that's leaders supporting each other.
03:25And the feedback that we're getting in particular in that space has been absolutely really, really positive because it's creating a conversation and giving people some opportunity to kind of feel valued and respected and safe to start having conversations about part of their identity.
03:40That, you know, is so important to the work that they do every day.
