Page 3528 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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To improve the this flow of patients in our system, a patient flow coordinator role has been created to provide increased visibility of bed capacity across the system, including Calvary Hospital, and to support a proactive approach to increasing the movement of patients when it is suitable for them. This includes twice-daily bed capacity reporting, including all in-patient units, and identification of patients suitable to be cared for in other settings. This enables the creation of capacity for high dependency unit beds in particular.
I need to be very careful in making these comments, but I make the observation that an inpatient environment is not always the best outcome for somebody with mental health concerns. The consistent advice we receive from health experts is that being at home, with services coming to patients, can be far more effective. I put that rider on the table in the context of ensuring that we have the right number of beds and the right number of facilities. Simply creating more impatient beds is not the right answer in the mental health space. That is not to say that we do not need to increase capacity at points in the system, but I bring that nuance to the conversation in reflecting on how we provide mental health services.
We have also placed a dedicated full-time, Monday-to-Friday business hours consultant psychiatrist in the emergency department to enable timely assessment and planning for people presenting with mental health concerns. This will enable better relationships with the other ED consultants and ensure that dedicated analysis is being provided for patients presenting to ED in that state.
There is increased funding in the 2019-20 budget to increase the mental health consultation liaison service to expand hours and increase ability to cover ED as well as the general wards. A four-bed pod within ward 7B at Canberra Hospital has been created for mental health patients and has created capacity for flow of patients. This is a medical ward which often accommodates patients with physical health conditions and concurrent mental illness. These physical problems are often associated with their mental illness; for example, suicide attempts or eating disorders. The ward is risk assessed and additional staff are put on shift to accommodate and care for the mental health patients in the ward.
In order to streamline processes which impact both emergency services and the ED, regular cross-directorate meetings between the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, including Emergency Services and Canberra Health Services, have been established to deal with issues immediately they arise so that we ensure that what might traditionally be described as the silo approach does not present a barrier to the best possible treatment approaches and that we are streamlining our systems to maximise effectiveness for our patients.
As I have previously mentioned in this chamber, Canberra Health Services and Emergency Services will work together to establish the PACER model in the ACT. PACER is intended to deliver patient-centred, in situ safe care, assessment and treatment in an attempt to minimise hospital emergency department presentations and demand on acute services as well as the prospect of people ending up in the custodial environment because of a mental health episode.
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