Page 1279 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 1993
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(6) Statistics from Kenmore Hospital were sought for the years 1989-1992 but only
the following were available:
1991: 11
1992: 7
Psychiatric patients from the Psychiatry Unit, Woden Valley Hospital, are sent to Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital for medium to long-term psychiatric hospitalisation when appropriate services are not available in the ACT. An understanding exists between Kenmore Hospital and the Psychiatry Unit, Woden Valley Hospital, that ACT patients may be sent to Kenmore, and patients from the South-East Region of NSW may be sent to the Psychiatry Unit, Woden Valley Hospital, for treatment when this is the best option. Some additional patients attend NSW services by their own choice.
(7) The ACT does not have a psychiatric hospital. NSW provides this support through Kenmore Hospital while the ACT provides general psychiatric services for the South-East Region. The usual reason for transfer of ACT patients to Kenmore Hospital is when a person has very disturbed behaviour and whose length of treatment would exceed the capacity for the psychiatry Unit, Woden Valley Hospital.
All general hospitals in Australia need, from time to time, to transfer a small percentage of their admissions to psychiatric hospitals. The proportion of admissions to Kenmore Phiatric Hospital is no greater than a Sydney hospital transferring a number of patients to a Sydney psychiatric hospital.
(8) (a) Hennessy House was constructed to provide accommodation for medium
to long-term psychiatric patients.
(b) All ACT patients resident in Kenmore Hospital were returned to the ACT
with the exception of:
those who preferred to remain at Kenmore Hospital;
those whose family was then resident in NSW; and
those whose behaviour falls into the category which requires specialised facilities in a psychiatric hospital.
(c) Hennessy House was planned to open at 20 beds but was also built to
accommodate a projected increase in demand over the next decade.
(d) Hennessy House currently operates at 20 beds.
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