Page 2853 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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believe that the facility is not being run properly. I think it is, by some highly trained, skilled and dedicated professionals and there is a level of goodwill between management and staff to work through the issues that are emerging in the workplace.
I do believe that the Assembly requires further information, and my amendment says that I would report by no later than the last sitting day in 2014 on measures being pursued by ACT Health to enhance mental health services across the ACT, including progress on the post-occupancy evaluation and update the Assembly on that and, of course, on issues relating to the PIN as they have been explained in my speech today.
But there is a lot of work underway. I do thank the staff at the adult mental health unit for the work that they do. The government has heard their concerns and I think they are actively being addressed by management.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.57): The care of some of the most vulnerable people in our community, and people who may have very complex needs, is quite rightly a matter of ongoing concern. Our obligations as employers of thousands of health staff, and in fact our obligations to all ACT public servants, is also clearly a matter for the Assembly, the media and the broader community to scrutinise. I have some comparisons in my own portfolio of Corrective Services with the AMC, and I understand the need for the community to be kept abreast of issues that arise.
Mental health is certainly a complex area of care. Personally, I do not have any particular expertise on the details of therapeutic interventions or the day-to-day challenges of nurses in providing this care. What I do know, however, is that it is clear there are problems for both patients and staff at the new adult mental health unit.
Considering the highly complex interactions of staff and patients or consumers in the closed environment of the adult mental health unit, it is not at all surprising that there are daily difficulties. It is when patterns emerge and become systemic that we must give pause to standard operating procedure and take stock, and this does now appear to be the case. The media attention aside, stakeholders have been raising some concerns about staff safety and we do need to look at those issues. But it is the genuine, qualified advice and the very real concerns of staff and advocates that we need to be considering, not just the occasional sensational headline in the press.My office regularly speaks to a range of people who either work in this space or represent staff or consumers. As a result I believe that the ACT Greens can support the thrust of Mrs Jones’s motion but not the content.
The Minister for Health’s amendment to the motion that is before us goes to the heart of the issues, clearly explains the work in progress and provides the Assembly with further review of the issues without misrepresenting the situation. Further, the amendment clarifies a point regarding “superiority of care” that illustrates that the Canberra Liberals, while sometimes well meaning, do not always fully appreciate the systems they attack.
Let us be clear: a health safety representative at the adult mental health unit placed a provisional improvement notice under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 on the
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