Page 2328 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 16 September 1992
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program and ancillary services that will serve the needs of Canberra's adolescents and those from surrounding regions. What is needed now is a commitment in the form of a ward that is styled as an adolescent ward and that has the potential to expand in the future.
There is considerable support in the community for the establishment of an adolescent unit. The Youth Affairs Network of the ACT, the Red Cross Youth Health Project, the ACT Youth Accommodation Group, the Australian Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital and the Chief Minister's own Youth Advisory Council have all recommended that an adolescent ward be established in the ACT. These groups can be called upon by government to help set up the ward, to appraise community support and to establish exactly what is needed and what can be deferred for a short time in setting up this much needed facility.
Already there exists a proposal for a 15-bed ward to be located in Building 3 of Woden Valley Hospital once it has been vacated by its current tenants. The proposal from the adolescent ward working party claims that there would be minimal outlay only for the establishment of this ward, with most of the resources coming from other areas in the hospital. Canberra should have a first-class public hospital system and it deserves an adolescent unit as part of that first-class public hospital system. We need to ensure that the new hospital system is adequate for future uses and for all people.
It is in the interests of the community that our young people receive appropriate care and treatment for their injuries and illnesses. From anecdotal evidence from interstate it appears that better health outcomes for young people are achieved from adolescent units. Adolescence is supposed to be the most healthy stage of our lives. However, there is much evidence to show that young people in our society are at risk. They are disproportionately represented in mortality statistics for motor vehicle accidents, substance abuse, suicide and drug dependence. They experience enormous growth in emotional, physical, mental and social development which can leave them isolated and without support, especially if they are also suffering from illnesses or injuries that set them apart from their peer group. As a community we are addressing other issues in the lives of our young people. Now is the time to act in recognition of the work that has been done over the past 15 years in many forums and to establish an adolescent unit at Woden Valley Hospital.
MRS CARNELL (11.02): I wish to strongly support Ms Szuty's motion on the adolescent unit. To begin with, it is worth defining which group of people we are talking about here. As Ms Szuty said, the World Health Organisation has defined adolescents as including young people between the ages of 10 and 19, so we are talking about teenagers in the literal sense of the word. It includes the period from the onset of puberty to the end of secondary school education. It is a period of rapid physical, mental and emotional development for all young people.
There has been a growing realisation in Australia that adolescents have special health care needs and need special steps taken to meet those needs. Paediatric wards are not the best places to treat adolescents, as their interests and requirements are obviously different from those of very young children. Adolescents often respond differently to certain treatments and there is also
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