SA Health reveals mechanical restraints used daily on elderly patients at Oakden facility
AN average of more than five elderly patients have been restrained each day at the Oakden mental health facility, using devices including modern strait jackets, latest figures show.
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AN average of more than five elderly patients have been restrained each day at the Oakden mental health facility, using devices including modern strait jackets, latest figures show.
SA Health told The Advertiser that mechanical restraints were used in South Australian mental health facilities 2057 times in 2015/16.
Of those, 1895 incidents — or 92 per cent — occurred at Oakden.
The restraints included pelvic bands and vests or jackets used on patients in wheelchairs, as well as wrist and ankle restraints.
It comes as the Opposition has condemned the State Government for failing to hold anyone to account for the patient abuse scandal almost two weeks after the Chief Psychiatrist report was made public.
“It is two weeks since the Government announced its response to the Oakden Report — two weeks of denial of ministerial and management responsibility,” Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said.
“The report found that lack of training led staff to misuse restrictive practices, contrary to policy and the law.
“If the Premier is not willing to hold ministers and management responsible for keeping services safe and legal, South Australia has just become a more dangerous place.”
The Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service has 64 beds but audits show only about two-thirds of the beds are usually filled at any one time.
Based on this estimate, a patient spending a year at the facility could have been restrained using a mechanical device an average of about 42 times. But one patient may be restrained many times and others not restrained at all.
Patients could also be restrained using drugs to sedate them or be locked in an isolated room but these methods tended to be used less often.
An SA Health spokesman said that other states also recorded their highest use of mechanical restraint in mental health services for older people.
“The use of restraints is always at the discretion of the treating clinician and should only be used when all other techniques have failed,” the spokesman said.
Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves’ scathing report stated that it appeared staff used restraint as a “a routine management tool” rather than as a “last resort” as required.
Dr Groves said there appeared to be a “significant failure” to appreciate the “seriousness of restraint” as stated by the United Nations and as agreed in Australia.
“It is as though Oakden believed these issues did not apply to them, when the reality is, they applied more than in any other setting in SA,” the report stated.
Dr Groves said despite the use of restraint increasing the likelihood of falls, Oakden routinely reported fall prevention as the reason for its use.
He said it appeared the needs of patients experiencing extreme behavioural and psychological symptoms were not planned for in SA.
At the time of writing this report, it was considered that there were 14 people in Oakden experiencing extreme symptoms, who tended to be men in their late 60s or 70s who were physically strong and were so violent that they had harmed other residents or staff.