Page 1228 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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have many more to come. We have a program of over 20,000 trees that will be planted throughout Canberra, because our government has a commitment to increasing trees where there are not currently any, and also to retaining our existing tree canopy to make sure that we can reach our target of 30 per cent canopy cover across Canberra. It would be interesting to see if the Liberals support that target as well.
Mental health—acute care capacity
MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Minister, on 27 May 2020 a media article published about mental health referred to a young person who had severe problems with depression and self-harm. That person presented to Calvary hospital but there was no mental healthcare team on duty. The young person was then taken to Canberra Hospital, but after waiting for several hours was advised that there was no mental health practitioner available, and that she would be better off going home. Minister, why was there no-one at either Canberra or Calvary hospitals that could help this young person when she most needed it?
MR RATTENBURY: I will take the details of Mrs Jones’s question on notice, given that she asked a very specific question. What I can say is that in recent years there has been an expansion of the availability of specialist mental health teams. The consultation liaison staff who specifically perform that role are available for a greater number of hours each day, also now for a full seven days a week. So there has been expansion in those services. As I said I will seek the details of the specific case that Mrs Jones is interested in.
MRS JONES: Minister, why are emergency mental health teams not working at Calvary Public Hospital on a 24/7 basis?
MR RATTENBURY: We do seek to allocate staff to the busiest possible times. The experience is that there are particular periods of the day when those specialists are particularly needed. An example would be the launch of the PACER trial. That operates from 2 pm to midnight on the days that it is operating. The reason is that that is considered to be the time at which those services are most needed. So there is that allocation of resources. There are times of the day when there would be very few cases coming through, which is why there are not people around all the time.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, to what extent do staffing issues in the Canberra Hospital’s adult mental health unit mean that patients who need urgent help do not always receive it in a timely manner?
MR RATTENBURY: The adult mental health unit has a complement of staffing to match the needs of the number of patients who are there. In recent times there has been some discussion—and I know Mrs Dunne is aware of this—in that we did have a number of locums but, due to significant recruiting efforts, there are now more permanent positions filled. I am very pleased about that. It is a credit to our recruitment teams because it is a competitive environment to get psychiatrists, particularly, and mental health staff generally. With respect to the general nature of Mrs Dunne’s question, I can assure her that the unit is staffed as required.
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