Page 4224 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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MR RATTENBURY: As I said in my first answer on this line of questioning, the government is working to deliver this facility for ACT young people and ACT families. It is currently underway and I am sure that it will be a great facility when it is ready.
Mrs Dunne: But a whole generation of kids will have missed out.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne.
Mental health—admission delays
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health: I refer you to an answer recently provided on notice in the Assembly. You told the Assembly that it took 16.2 hours for someone presenting with a mental illness to find a bed in 2018-19 compared with a waiting time of 6.6 hours in 2017-18. Why did the average waiting time for admission to a mental health bed increase by nearly 10 hours over the course of a year?
MR RATTENBURY: As we have discussed in this place previously, there has been a significant increase in mental health presentations in recent times. I have been very upfront about that, and I have also been very clear with the Assembly that we are working on strategies to ameliorate the impact of that increase in demand and ensure improved services for people.
It has been reported publicly recently that we have opened additional beds so that people can be admitted to an inpatient facility more quickly when they need it. It is also fair to reflect on the fact that not everybody who comes to the emergency department with a mental health presentation needs to be admitted to an inpatient facility. Some people will simply spend time in the emergency department while they stabilise. This is the very nature of some mental health conditions and that can be the right and appropriate treatment for some people.
This is not just a matter of statistics; there is quite a bit of complexity in how mental health patients are both assessed and treated and then supported. I assure members that we are working very hard to improve those times.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, is it the case, as I was told in a briefing recently, that you are using unused beds in Dhulwa as overflow beds for mental health patients?
MR RATTENBURY: No, that is not the case. Some people have suggested that we should do that, but Dhulwa is a very particular facility. It is a secure forensic mental health facility. Despite being asked to use it for that purpose, I have been clearly advised by Canberra Health Services that it should not be used for that purpose, and I support that view.
MS LAWDER: Minister, why are waiting times for admission to mental health beds well above clinically recommended times?
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