SCII.013.005 · 2019. 11. 4. · Internationally, music festival related deaths and adverse events...
Transcript of SCII.013.005 · 2019. 11. 4. · Internationally, music festival related deaths and adverse events...
Deputy State Coroner Grahame NSW State Coroner's Court
lA Main Ave Lidcombe NSW 2140
Dear Deputy State Coroner Grahame
As the NSW Chief Health Officer and Deputy Secretary of Population and Public Health at
the NSW Ministry of Health I am able to assist with providing information regarding the
NSW Health policy and operational response to drug related harms associated with music
festivals.
I am a public health physician who was appointed to the role of Chief Health Officer on 1
February 2009 . Prior to this appointment I was the Director of Health Protection and
Deputy Chief Health Officer. I have extensive public health experience having held senior
positions in NSW Health since 1991. My curriculum vitae is attached (Attachment A}.
1. There has been a recent increase in drug-related harms associated with music
festivals in New South Wales
2. There has been a recent, substantial increase in the drug related harms associated with a
small number of music festivals in New South Wales (NSW) .
3. From September 2018 to January 2019, five deaths were associated with music festivals in
NSW. In add ition to these deaths, a number of people who attended music festivals
developed serious medical illness requiring hospital admission and intensive care
management for drug related toxicity. For the 25 NSW music fest ivals held in 2018-2019
that have been exam ined in detail, the re were 29 pre-hospital intubations, 25 drug
re lated intensive care admissions, and at least an additional 23 drug-related hospital
admissions.
4. This number of deaths is an unexpectedly marked increase within a short period. Over the
last decade in Australia, around 12 deaths were associated with music festivals, including
four festival related deaths across Australia over the summer of 2015.
5. Australian surveys of festival attendees consistently demonstrate that drug use is more
common among attendees than in the general population (Day et al. , 2018; Lim, Hellard,
Hocking, & Aitken, 2008). A study undertaken at a NSW festival reported that respondents
were three times more likely to have used drugs in the last 12 months than the age
matched population studied in the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. The most
commonly used drugs were cannabis (64%) and ecstasy (60%) (Day et al. , 2018) .
6. Patterns of drug use at festivals are an additional concern, such as t he practice of "double
dropping," where individuals consume two pills simultaneously, usually two ecstasy pills.
Almost half of Australian respondents who used ecstasy pills reported double dropping at
the last festival they attended (Grigg, Barratt, & Lenton, 2018) .
7. Polysubstance use, i.e. the mixing of different drugs alongside tobacco, alcohol and energy
drinks, is also a higher ris k practice and is more likely to occur in festival and rave settings
(Fernandez-Calderon, Diaz-Batanero, Barratt, & Palamar, 2019) .
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8. Internationally, music festival related deaths and adverse events are typically reported in
the media, but rarely formally documented in the academic literature. Attachment B
provides international examples of festivals with associated drug related deaths.
9. Surveys undertaken at festivals have demonstrated that certain genres of music have
different associations with reported substance use. Internationally, electronic dance music
(EDM) festival attendance has been correlated with the use of psychoactive substances,
including alcohol and amphetamines (Chhabra, Gimbar, Walla, & Thompson, 2018) . An
Australian study of festival attendees found EDM and rap genres were associated with
higher rates of illicit drug use in the month prior to their attendance. EDM was particularly
associated with recent use of ecstasy (Lim et al., 2008).
10. What we have learnt from recent experience in NSW - Experience of drug related
serious illness at recent festivals
11. Between September 2018 and May 2019, the majority of NSW festival patrons with
serious drug related illness presented with features clinically consistent with MDMA
toxicity.
12. There is no evidence to date that people who presented with serious illness at music
festivals in NSW between September 2018 and May 2019 have experienced significant
toxicity from novel or emerging illicit substances, or chemical contaminants. Many of
these cases self-reported ingesting one or more MDMA capsules. Where performed,
laboratory testing has confirmed the presence of MDMA at toxic or potentially fatal levels
in the majority of the cases (26 of 36 cases, 72 per cent) of serious illness in this period .
13. Specimens from 40 seriously unwell patients who had attended festivals from September
2018 to May 2019 were sent for toxicology analysis. Of these, results are available for 36
cases. For these 36 people, MDMA was detected in 89% of people and was detected at
toxic or potentially fatal levels in 72% of people . The true proportion of people who
experienced MDMA toxicity is likely higher, as there was frequently a lag between the
time when the drug was consumed, the likely peak toxicity period and the time of
collection of clinical samples for laboratory analysis, during which time the drug may have
been partially cleared or metabolised . In some people, other illicit substances such as
methamphetamine and cocaine were detected, alone or in combination with MDMA,
which may have resulted in potentiation of drug-related toxicity .
14. For the 36 people where specimens were tested, the most common drug detected other
than MDMA was cannabis (detected in 25% of people); followed by cocaine (detected in
17% of people); and meth/amphetamines (detected in 14% of people) . Alcohol was
detected in 19% of people.
15. Fentanyl was tested for in all cases, and extended testing for fentanyl analogues was
performed from October 2018 onwards for selected cases. Fentanyl was found in one
case, and no fentanyl analogues were found. The one case with fentanyl detected also had
toxic levels of MDMA detected.
16. Information provided by thirteen people who experienced illness related to festival events
in NSW from September 2018 to May 2019 indicates that some festival patrons take more
than two capsules at once or within a short period of time. Among the thirteen people
where the number of capsules or tablets taken was reported and recorded in the medical
notes, a median of four capsules/ tablets were self-reported to have been consumed .
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17. Impacts on on-site medical services
18. When there is a higher probability of simultaneous serious medical presentations, more
medical service capacity support is needed to identify serious illness, regularly monitor
patients who are unwell, and continuously prioritise care according to clinical need . In
these circumstances it is important to have senior doctors with extensive experience in
the pre-hospital setting available to best coordinate the onsite medical capacity while
concurrently managing multiple patients and facilitating rapid transfer if required .
19. Clinical features associated with cases of serious illness at music festivals as described by
NSW Ambulance situation reports, the NSW Public Health Rapid, Emergency, Disease and
Syndrom ic Surveillance (PHREDSS) line lists, and/or LHD reports were frequently
consistent with MOMA toxicity and serotonergic syndrome, including severe
hyperthermia, aggression, agitation and confusion, decreased level of consciousness,
seizures, cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac arrest.
20. These presentations are very complex to manage, and may require a number of senior
clinicians to provide urgent chemical sedation, rapid sequence intubation and ventilation,
active cooling and urgent transfer to a tertiary facility.
21. One serious medical presentation such as this can easily require the dedicated attention
of a team of four senior clinicians including resuscitation doctor(s), registered nurses
and/or intensive care paramedics.
22. Attachment C provides an overview of learnings from the music festival event debriefs
that have been held to date, with a specific focus on medical service provision on-site .
23. Attachment D provides the clinical case review performed by the NSW Poisons
Information Centre and lessons learned from the death associated with the Lost Paradise
festival.
24. Characteristics of festivals associated w ith higher likelihood of harm
25. Based on the experience of NSW Health's engagement and response during the 2018-19
music festival season, and on an understanding of the potentiating environmental and
behavioural factors for MOMA related toxicity including heat stress and dehydration, the
following characteristics associated with a specific festival event are considered to be
associated with a higher likelihood of serious drug related harm and/or factors that may
increase the severity of harms associated with drug use:
• Target demographic: 18-35 years
• Music type : electronic dance music/high energy music
• Event size: 8,000 patrons or more
• Event time and duration: events which continue past midnight, or where the
duration exceeds 8 hours, or where the event occurs over multiple days
• Anticipated weather conditions: high temperatures can impact on the severity of
drug related harms
• Event site : indoor versus outdoor. Heat exposure and inadequate ventilation can
impact the severity of drug related harms
• Location : metropolitan versus regional or rural locations
• Distance to nearest tertiary hospital.
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26. Attitudes of young people who attend music festivals
27. The Ministry has engaged with young people to help understand their experience and
attitudes in relation to drug related harms at music festivals .
Interviews with young people hospita lised after attending a music festival
28. Interviews with four of eight young people who were available for contact while
hospitalised following attendance at a music festival were undertaken. The primary
purpose of the interviews was to link patients to follow up services, including drug and
alcohol services in their local area or counselling and psychologic support, as appropriate.
The offer of this support was generally well received, even if patients chose not to take up
the opportunity for follow up.
29. The secondary aim of these interviews was to inform NSW Health's understanding of the
experiences and behaviours of these patients, so as to better address their perspective in
directing health messaging and onsite service provision. Attachment E presents the
information obtained at these qualitative interviews in more detail.
30. Key themes identified from these interviews were :
• Participants all viewed drug taking as a personal choice
• Participants reported certain behaviours were driven by fear of police or parental
detection, including taking drugs prior to arrival at the event and avoiding the medical
centre or open disclosure of substance use
• Cost is a factor in their decision to use substances, although while pills are "affordable,
is it really worth your life?"
• All were aware of the risks of substance use, and had seen health messaging, but did
not think it would happen to them
• All delayed their presentation to a medical provider as they felt their symptoms would
improve
• Peers/ friends are a crucial support or protective factor - they serve as a source of
information and support, including in directing patients to appropriate services
• Pill testing was specifically mentioned by some participants, but accessibility and
uptake at festivals would depend on policing strategies used.
Social marketing research
31. The Ministry of Health commissioned a research organisation to interview young people
at music festivals as part of the evaluation of the social media campaign. The research
provided the following insights into the attitudes of festival goers aged 18-24 years :
• Festivals tend to be seen as far 'bigger' than a night out. They are often highlights of
the social calendar. People may plan well in advance and travel long distances to
attend.
• Pre-loading (consuming drugs and/or alcohol prior to the event) is common, and
consumption of alcohol and other drugs can continue after the festival ends.
• The majority believed drug taking is the norm; most believe that at least 70% of
patrons will take something (often people believe it is closer to 90%) . The benefits of
using drugs at festivals are largely seen as obvious and "a given"
• It appears MOMA capsules are the primary drug of choice, with ketamine and to a
lesser extent cocaine playing a role too
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• The decision to consume drugs at a festival is often made well ahead of the festival.
Once purchased, it is unlikely people will change their minds about taking them.
• Most acknowledge drug taking comes with inherent risks, including death (at the
extreme) but few believe they are personally at risk of death. The vast majority of
young people appear to see the risks of taking drugs as 'worth it'
• Police operations are front and centre in people's minds. The role of police is
universally perceived to be about enforcing drug laws - police are seen to be at
festivals in an effort to 'bust people' . Increased policing is widely seen to drive ever
more creative methods of concealing drugs (rather than deterring use) .
32 . Reported barriers to seeking medical treatment for patrons or their friends include:
• Fear of getting into trouble from authorities and/or being ejected from the festival
• Fear of looking stupid or overly dramatic
• Being too intoxicated to know they need help
• Not knowing where or who to ask for help
• Not wanting to spoil anyone's fun
• Inexperienced "trip-sitters" -friends or bystanders not knowing the danger signs
• Knowing what to say
• Wanting to tough it out.
33 . Further social marketing research is underway, with a report due to be delivered to NSW
Ministry of Health by the end of June 2019.
34. This research includes face to face qualitative interviews of 24 young people and an on line
survey of 400 people who have attended a music festival within the last 12 months.
35. This research will guide the ongoing development of the NSW Ministry of Health response
to music festival safety and support development of further strategies to keep people
healthy at music festivals .
36. The Ministry is also currently conducting a consultation process to better understand
stakeholder perspectives about how peer-based harm reduction services can reduce the
risks of drug related harm at music festivals .
37. What we know about MDMA use in the community and risk of harm
38. MOMA is an illicit stimulant substance often consumed recreationally (as a 'party' drug) .
Population data does not indicate an increase in general community use of MOMA
(National Drug Household 2016, Waste Water Monitoring Program). Among regular users
of ecstasy in NSW use is consistent with previous years however there has been a shift
towards capsules and away from tablet formulations (Illicit Drug Reporting System, 2018).
This may have been driven by perceptions of increased strength of MOMA in capsule form
(Gibbs & Peacock, 2018).
39 . Recent information from the state reference laboratory - the NSW Forensic and Analytical
Science Services (FASS) indicate that this perception may not be correct. Although the
number of MOMA pills and capsules that have been analysed is limited (particularly in
2009-2011 for capsules), the findings indicate that the average purity of MOMA in
capsules increased rapidly between 2011 and 2013, while for tablets it has remained
relatively low and stable . However, the median dose of MOMA per tablet or capsule has
remained similar and consistent over time. This is due to a commensurate decrease in the
average weight of MOMA in capsule contents at the time that capsule purity increased .
40. A summary of the clinical toxicology and laboratory analysis findings from the NSW music
festival season, September 2018 to May 2019, is provided in Attachments F and G. MOMA
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toxicity can rapidly progress to an acute, severe, life threatening condition that requires
urgent intensive care management. Severe hyperthermia, where the body overheats to
the point of multi organ failure and death, is one of the severe consequences of MDMA
toxicity. Hyperthermia may be exacerbated by environmental factors, such as high
ambient temperature and inadequate shade/cooling facilities, and patient factors
including individual genetics, levels of activity and fluid intake . Presentations with this
level of severity require more advanced onsite cl inical capability in a pre-hospital setting
such as a music festival.
41. Substances purchased as MDMA may be contaminated with other risky psychoactive
substances, some of which have a similar toxicity profile to MDMA, but this kind of
contamination has not been a feature of the recent serious presentations at music
festivals in NSW.
42. What we have learnt from other jurisdictions
43. Other jurisd ictions have responded to reduce the risks of drug and other harms at music
festivals through approaches that can broadly be grouped into the following five
categories . These categories are by no means mutually exclusive. Rather, effective
implementation of one strategy may support one or more other strategies.
44. Onsite health and wellbeing services: Provision of onsite peer-based harm reduction
programs and medical services. In Europe and Canada, harm reduction services are
embedded into event planning and medical provision. These services include trained
peers who engage patrons through education, counselling and support services to make
informed decisions about their drug and alcohol use, promote help-seeking behaviours
and provide information about sexual health . This typically also includes provision of "Chill
out zones" where attendees can be safely supported through adverse drug reactions.
(Munn, Lund, Golby, & Turris, 2016) .
45. There is an important role for onsite medical services in harm reduction, particularly
because the potentially rapid onset of serious drug related toxicity means that even
relatively short delays in appropriate treatment may contribute to adverse outcomes. Due
to the predictability of drug related presentations at electronic dance music events,
dedicated onsite medical care is recommended, with an increasing recognition that basic
first aid should be supplemented with multidisciplinary critical care teams capable of
providing a higher level of care (Lund & Turris, 2015) .
46. In Ireland, the national guidelines require approval of appropriate onsite medical services
by the health department as part of licensing processes, to ensure that event organisers
engage private health providers with the capacity to manage their event-specific
anticipated risk profile and patient complexity (Health Service Executive, 2013) . Medical
staff must either be fully qualified critical care specialists or advanced trainees specialising
in emergency medicine who are approved by the President of the Emergency Medicine
College (Interview with Dr Sinead Ni Bhraonain, 2018).
47. Patron education and harm reduction messaging : targeted public health alerts and harm
reduction messaging can be provided to festival attendees. For example, the New York
Health Department required viewing of harm reduction messages before patrons were
able to enter a music festival (Ridpath et al., 2014).
48. Regulatory approaches: codification of t he expectations of service delivery by music
festival organisers and onsite medical providers through best practice guidelines and
regulation of approval processes. State governments in Western Austral ia and Victoria
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produced guidelines in 2009 and 2011, respectively (Department of Health, 2009;
Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). In the Irish context, compliance with their
guidelines has been linked with alcohol licensing approval (Health Service Executive,
2013).
49. Drug checking services : This includes the provision of onsite or community based services
that analyse the composition of substances and provide individual feedback to consumers
alongside appropriate counselling. The underlying rationale of these services is to provide
accurate information about the composition of products to enable consumers to make
more informed decisions about their use, and use them more safely. (Barratt, Kowalski,
Maier, & Ritter, 2017; Measham, 2018).
50. Surveillance systems: some models of surveillance or early warning systems are supported
by drug checking services, others are national systems that receive information primarily
from samples of substances collected through law enforcement seizures or poisoning and
death investigations. Through networking between jurisdictions, this information plays a
role in informing public health alerts to festival patrons and clinicians. In the European
model, the collated findings of national early warning systems also support international
risk assessment and policy. (Butterfield, Barratt, Ezard, & Day, 2016; European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2019) .
51 . Additional challenges in the NSW context
52. Due to differences in population density, events in NSW do not typically reach the scale of
European or North American festivals in terms of patronage. However, there are specific
issues relating to the NSW environment and health services infrastructure that pose
additional challenges, particularly for onsite risks and service delivery. These include:
The environment and geography
53. Heat: Australian summers experience much higher ambient temperatures than most
European jurisdictions.
54. Geography: Regional and remote music festivals in Australia experience significant
additional challenges due to distance and limited local infrastructure, for example, road
access and telecommunication services.
55. Natural disaster: particularly for reg ional events, plans should specifically address
evacuation in the event of major natural events such as storms, flood or fire.
The health system
56. Music festivals that occur in regional NSW locations are substantially more affected by
prolonged transfer distances and times than similar "regional" events that occur in
European jurisdictions.
57. How NSW Health has responded to date
58. NSW Health has responded rapidly with the introduction of a number of new harm
reduction strategies since September 2018 to reduce drug related harm including
developing guidelines, a new social media campaign and support for event organisers.
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59. Advice and guidance for event organisers on harm reduction at music festivals
60. Guidelines for Music Festival Event Organisers: Music Festival Harm Reduction were
developed (Attachment H).
61. Interim Guidelines were published initially in December 2018, to ensure advice was
available during the peak summer festival period, while also allowing for further
consultation and revision. As a living document, the Interim Guidelines were revised and
updated, and published as Guidelines in March 2019.
62. NSW Health consulted with festival event organisers, onsite medical providers, NSW Users
and AIDS Association (DanceWize) and the Australian Red Cross (save-a-mate), relevant
medical Colleges and professional groups, health services and other government agencies,
and other jurisdictions in the development and revision of the guidelines.
63. These Guidelines describe the three elements of the NSW harm reduction approach to
date, including: social messaging and provision of peer-support to encourage and support
safer behaviours in festival patrons; environmental considerations such as provision of
chilled water, shade, and toilets; and onsite medical service provision to strengthen the
onsite capability for management of severe illness.
64. These Guidelines will undergo regular review. Further consultation and revision of the
Guidelines is underway and the next iteration of the Guidelines will be available by August
2019.
65 . Advice provided on event plans, through pre-event health briefings and debriefs,
and briefing sessions
66. NSW Health has reviewed event plans and has provided advice to event organisers on
how to strengthen harm reduction strategies and risk management approaches.
Recommendations directed to improve implementation of harm reduction strategies in
music festival event plans, particularly event medical plans, will now be submitted as part
of licensing approval processes to Liquor & Gaming NSW.
67 . To support communication and coordination between onsite medical staff, NSW Health
facilities, NSW Ambulance and the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health has
coordinated pre-brief meetings to support important discussions about harm reduction
strategies, managing serious illness, clarifying roles and responsibilities, emergency
response protocols and escalation pathways. Formal NSW Health debriefs have been
conducted where appropriate, to identify issues and make improvements to the NSW
Health response.
68. NSW Health has met or consulted with a range of groups to provide information about
and seek advice on lessons from the harm reduction response at music festivals, including
festival event organisers, onsite medical service providers, clinical professional bodies,
harm reduction service providers, other Government agencies such as Liquor & Gaming
NSW and the NSW Police, and other jurisdictions. An example face-to-face presentation
for onsite medical providers is provided in Attachment I.
69. Clinical guidelines for onsite health providers
70. In partnership with the NSW Poisons Information Centre, emergency and intensive care
clinicians, relevant medical Colleges and Ambulance NSW, Interim Clinical Guidelines for
the Management of Drug Associated Hyperthermia (Attachment J) were released to
support pre-hospital service providers during the 2018-2019 festival season.
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71. Initial consultation on these guidelines included the Emergency Care Institute and
Intensive Care NSW of the Agency for Clinical Innovation, NSW Ambulance, and the NSW
Health Service Functional Area Coordinator (HSFAC) .
72. Broader consultation is currently underway with a plan to publish a final version by August
2019, ahead of the next festival season .
73. Deployment of medical retrieval and health response teams
74. All events present some risk of harm, and in particular any event associated with
substance use has a risk of serious drug related illness, even if the event is small or
otherwise considered lower risk.
75. Since January 2019, NSW Health has pre-deployed multidisciplinary critical ca re teams to
higher risk music festivals to supplement private onsite health providers, in an effort to
mitigate the impact of serious drug related illness. These teams are comprised of retrieval
and emergency medical specialists, emergency nurses and intensive care paramedics.
Their role is to undertake the management of critically ill patients, rather than manage
first aid or general medical presentations, which remain the responsibility of the private
onsite health provider.
76. Based on a NSW Health risk assessment conducted prior to selected higher risk festival
events, planned NSW Health response pre-deployment may include :
• A medical retrieval team comprising a minimum of one senior specialist doctor and
one critical care paramedic. For some festivals, the medical retrieval team
deployment included an additional critical care doctor to allow the senior specialist
doctor to continue as designated Medical Commander onsite if the retrieval team
was required to transport a patient to hospital
• A local health district health response team comprising two senior specialist
doctors and four emergency department nurses
• Pre-deployment of additional NSW Ambulance crews or a designated onsite
Forward Commander
• A Local Health District Liaison Officer.
77 . Ten festivals in 2019 had a NSW Health medical retrieval team pre-deployed onsite for the
duration of the event. One of these festivals required the deployment of an additional
medical retrieval team mid-event in addition to a pre-deployed medical ret rieval and
health response team due to the number of concurrent serious drug related presentations
at that event. Eight of t hese festivals also had a pre-deployed health response team onsite
for the duration of the event.
78. Three other festivals in 2019 required a retrieval team to be sent to the festival mid-event
to retrieve a seriously unwell patient, and for one of these events the retrieval team
remained deployed onsite for the remainder of the event.
79. In the period September to December 2018, three helicopter retrieval teams were
deployed to retrieve patients from two festivals (Defqon .l and Subsonic).
80. Deployment of ambulance crews
81. Of the 27 festivals from September 2018 to May 2019 for which we have data, there were
a total of 55 NSW Ambulance crews, 25 NSW Ambulance forward commanders and 19
NSW Ambulance liaison officers pre-deployed to these events. There is a user pays
arrangement in place for pre-deployment of ambulance resources to events such as music
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festivals. Some events have had up to three ambulance crews pre-deployed under the
user pays arrangement, as well as one to three forward commanders and one to three
I iaison officers.
82. Additional ambulance crews have been deployed during at least 22 of these 27 events in
response to demand . The number of additional ambulance crews deployed mid-event has
ranged from one to twelve, and a total of 120 additional ambulance crews were deployed
from the community to these events. Five additional forward commanders were also
deployed mid-event to four of these events.
83. Enhanced peer support and harm reduction
84. NSW Health has funded additional peer-based harm reduction services, including
DanceWize and/or Australian Red Cross save-a-mate, at higher risk festivals . This has
included additional chill out spaces, fans to help cool down the crowd during extreme
weather events, electronic screens to display harm reduction messages, extra signage
directing patrons to medical tents, and provision of free bottles of chilled water and
electrolyte drinks.
85. Social media campaign
86. A targeted and strategic social media harm reduction campa ign has been developed . This
involved four 15 second advertisements on youth-oriented on line platforms such as
Spotify, lnstagram and Facebook. The campaign was informed by a rapid e-consultation
with 603 young people who had recently attended a festival. A key message was
encouraging early help seeking. Festival organisers have been provided with the NSW
Health assets to use on their social platforms and display during the event. Research was
undertaken to evaluate these campaign messages at music festivals held over the
Australia Day long weekend (Appendices Kand L present key findings from this research).
87 . Of survey respondents, 77% had seen or heard drug related messaging at music festivals .
'Know the signs and get help' was broadly appreciated for being simple and direct.
88. How NSW Health is consolidating its response for the 2019-20 festival season
89. NSW will continue to build on activities to date to consolidate its response to reducing
drug related harm at festivals . This includes updating and providing more clinical and
harm reduction advice and guidance to event organisers and onsite medical providers,
strengthening the social messaging strategies and peer-based support arrangements,
enhancing surveillance and strengthening stakeholder engagement.
90. Additional clinical guidance for management of acute illness
91. The NSW Ministry of Health engaged a clinical toxicologist from the NSW Poisons
Information Centre (NSW PIC) to perform a clinical case review of the death associated
with the Lost Paradise festival, to inform clinical management and health service delivery
(Attachment D) .
92. NSW Ministry of Health has engaged NSW Poisons Information Centre (NSW PIC) to lead
development of Clinical Guidelines in the Management of Illicit Substance Toxicity. Clinical
gu idance will focus on illicit substance-related agitation/behavioural disturbance; severe
hyperthermia; decreased level of consciousness; and dehydration.
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93. An expert working group with representation from the NSW Aeromedical Retrieval Unit,
the Emergency Care Institute (ECI) and Intensive Care NSW (ICNSW) is supporting this
process. Guidelines will include four quick reference resources outlining the management
of these complications in the pre-hospital setting, and a more comprehensive resource
which will include detailed management within the hospital setting. The four quick
reference resources will be formally published by August 2019, to support best practice
management of illicit substance related toxicity ahead of the next festival season.
94. Strengthening support for event organisers
95. Apart from the updated Guidelines for Music Festival Event Organisers, additional
resources are planned for development and will be made available on the NSW Health
website . These include patron information on rights and responsibilities which will be
available by December 2019. A training module for event staff on recognising and
responding to alcohol and other drug related harms is also in development.
96. Strengthening social messaging strategies and peer-support
97. Research has been undertaken to evaluate the impact and outcomes of the 2018-19 social
media campaign, and further research is currently being undertaken to inform the
development of an updated campaign for the 2019-20 festival season.
98. The Ministry is also undertaking audience segmentation research to increase
understanding of: attitudes, motivations and values of young people that attend music
festivals; influencers best placed to deliver messages; and the best channels for delivery of
messaging and information before, during and post event.
99. The Ministry of Health is also updating advice on best practice peer support models for
harm reduction at music festivals .
100. Strengthening stakeholder engagement
101. NSW Health is conducting a process of formally engaging clinicians through peak
professional organisations such as the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine
(ACEM), and emergency medicine, intensive care and toxicology clinical networks across
local health districts and the Agency for Clinical Innovation, as well as private event
medical providers and festival event organisers to support an evidence-based best
practice approach to the management of festival-associated drug-related harms.
102. Developing enhanced surveillance for severe drug related toxicity
103. Key learnings from NSW Health's response to the drug-related deaths of the 2018-2019
festival season have identified the opportunity to enhance a state wide public health
surveillance system for acute, severe toxicological presentations to acute health services,
focused on the emergency department and intensive care setting.
104. NSW Ministry of Health and NSW Poisons Information Centre are establishing a formal
partnership to develop the surveillance framework. This system would facilitate standard
FASS toxicology testing (including a screen for over 300 substances) among seriously
unwell patients admitted to emergency departments or intensive care units where severe
drug associated toxicity is suspected.
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105. Providing advice to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA)
106. NSW Health can be requested to provide advice to ILGA on the health risks associated
with a music festival event, and whether a music festival licence would be more
appropriate to manage the health risks than another type of licence, as described under
Clause 35A of the Liquor Regulation 2018.
107. This advice has been provided as requested for specific events, and is based on the
characteristics, environmental factors and the health incidents previously associated with
the event, and an assessment of the future likelihood of multiple, concurrent serious
medical presentations at the event.
108. NSW Health will continue to provide formal advice to the Independent Liquor and Gaming
Authority as requested, to inform future music festival licensing determinations.
Please advise if I can be of further assistance.
Yours sincerely
Dr Kerry Chant PSM Chief Health Officer and Deputy Secretary Population and Public Health
31/s/,ci
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