Acute community intervention services (ACIS) are provided by specialist public mental health services in response to requests for urgent assistance (assessment and short-term treatment) from members of the public, police, ambulance, general practitioners, service providers and others.
An ACIS response may be provided by a community team or through a broader integrated care approach delivered across a number of settings via a range of clinicians working together.
An ACIS response is available for people of all ages 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through a locally relevant application of the following three approaches:
- telephone triage – an initial telephone assessment to determine the urgency and nature of an ACIS response
- emergency department care – a senior mental health practitioner is available for assessment, consultation and advice
- acute assertive community outreach – an ACIS response delivers short- to medium-term community treatment as an alternative to acute inpatient treatment or to support transition from inpatient services.