Mental health patients accessing the Peel Health Campus emergency department are facing long wait-times and are usually transferred to a different hospital for extended visits, according to West Australian Health Department documents.
The documents, requested by Dawesville MP Zak Kirkup and released under Freedom of Information laws, reveal the hospital’s struggles in meeting demands without a designated mental health inpatient service.
Peel Health Campus is the only West Australian metropolitan hospital with an ED and no inpatient mental health service, with patients usually being transferred to Rockingham General Hospital.
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Further, there were 316 mental health presentations to the ED from July to December 2017, which is up from 305 patients for the same period in 2016.
The information was included in briefing notes supplied to Health Minister Roger Cook prior to his visit to the hospital, on March 1.
South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) chief Paul Forden said patients who presented at PHC with mental health related conditions were treated in the ED with support from a mental health liaison nurse and psychiatrist.
Mr Forden said patients who required an inpatient stay were usually transferred to Rockingham General Hospital.
“However, mental health beds are available at a range of hospitals including Fremantle Hospital, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Bunbury Hospital, Royal Perth Hospital, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital,” he said.
Residents in the Peel region have mental health care and support available to them through the network of general practitioners, community mental health services and hospitals.
- Mental Health Minister Roger Cook
“Other inpatient transfers can also be made to residential aged care facilities and psychiatric hospitals.
“The majority of patients seen in the PHC ED are cared for through SMHS community mental health services where a comprehensive program is provided for adults to access.”
Mental Health Minister Roger Cook said mental health and wellbeing, and suicide prevention was a priority for the state government.
“Residents in the Peel region have mental health care and support available to them through the network of general practitioners, community mental health services and hospitals,” he said.
“Last year, the State Government launched the state-wide Think Mental Health campaign which provides information on mental health, symptoms and signs to look out for, and where to get help and support.”
Mr Cook said the state government, through the Mental Health Commission, was funding several services in the Peel region in 2018 and 2019.
These include funding for the SMHS ($121.7m), suicide prevention ($3.7m), accommodation services ($3.3m) and community support services ($4.2m).
Mr Kirkup said more needed to be done to provide mental health support in Mandurah.
"The fact that Peel Health Campus doesn't have facilities to deal with a patient who needs to stay in a mental health bed is a condemnation on this WA Government," he said
"It is simply not good enough that people from Mandurah and the Peel Region who have a mental health issue need to get transferred to basically another hospital but the one they live near.
“I am shocked to see that as presentations continue to rise, the State Government has failed to act to get more beds into Peel Health Campus.
"It's further evidence that Mandurah continues to get ignored by this WA Government, and that we deserve better - especially in an area as important as a clinical mental health response."
Mr Kirkup said it was “simply not good enough”.
"The fact that Peel Health Campus doesn't have facilities to deal with a patient who needs to stay in a mental health bed is a condemnation on this WA government,” he said.
"It is simply not good enough that people from Mandurah and the Peel Region who have a mental health issue need to get transferred to basically another hospital but the one they live near.
“I am shocked to see that as presentations continue to rise, the state government has failed to act to get more beds into Peel Health Campus.
"It's further evidence that Mandurah continues to get ignored by this WA Government, and that we deserve better - especially in an area as important as a clinical mental health response."