The state government announced yesterday that it will employ 36 specialist mental health clinicians across 10 police districts in Sydney following the strong results of a pilot program in the St George station.

However, none of the nurses, who will offer expert support to police and ambulance officers called to mental health emergencies, will be based at Wollongong or Lake Illawarra police districts.

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Keira MP Ryan Park said whilst the Police, Ambulance and Clinical Early Response program in Sydney stations was important, he wanted it to be expanded to the Illawarra.

"People in our community are doing it tough," he said. "It has been a terrible 12 months for our community and the reality is, there is going to be more pressure on our mental health services, and on our frontline police.

"I know from speaking with police, mental health jobs have increased in the past 12 months and as the economic conditions worsen, and more people are stressed, I am concerned that there are going to me more mental health call outs.

"I will be making representations to the government to ensure this program gets rolled out into the Illawarra."

A spokeswoman for Bronnie Taylor, Minister for Mental Health, said NSW Health was adapting the PACER program to work effectively in the diverse regional and rural areas across the state.

"The $20 million expansion of virtual mental health services, announced in April, has the potential to allow first responders at the scene of a mental health emergency in rural and regional areas to connect with specialist mental health clinicians based in local health districts," she said.

"The expansion of the PACER program to 10 Sydney metropolitan police districts were prioritised based on the volume of mental health emergencies in their jurisdictions and their proximity to emergency services."

The mental health branch president of the Illawarra Nurses and Midwives Association, Glenn Hayes said there were community nurses in the region who attended mental health jobs with the police, but they did not work out of the police station, like the clinicians will under the PACER program.

He said some of his colleagues who worked in that community nursing role had found it beneficial to get early access to clients, however they would prefer to work from the police station.

Mr Hayes said law enforcement as the first port of call to a mental health sufferer was not as appropriate as a health care worker.

"The nurses who attend jobs with police go out to determine the need for a mental health assessment, if the person is experiencing a mental health crisis or if they may be having an exacerbation of an illness," he said.

"The PACER program seems to streamline the process, so the nurse can determine the type of need the person has then actions can be taken by the police to determine where the patient needs to be treated.

"The patient will benefit from this streamlined service as it will provide specalised care for them."

The program will operate in Campbelltown, Nepean, Northern Beaches, Sutherland Shire, Blacktown, Eastern Beaches, Ku-ring-gai, Metro Combined (Kings Cross, Surry Hills, City of Sydney), South Sydney and Bankstown police districts.

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