Mental health treatment concerns aired over Ward 17 after veterans turned away

It has a long history of treating Australian soldiers, but since 2013 Ward 17 has come under fire for no longer taking admissions of “at risk” veterans into their unit.

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It took a decade for veteran David Lang to be diagnosed with PTSD, but if it wasn’t for Ward 17 at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne the young father might not be alive.

Ward 17 has treated Australian soldiers who served in Vietnam, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan since 1947.

But since 2013, Ward 17 — an inpatient PTSD treatment hub — has come under fire for no longer just taking admissions of veterans, with the 20 beds now open to other patients battling trauma, including emergency service workers.

David Lang served for four years in the Australian Army before he was discharged.

Mr Lang was deployed to the Solomon Islands and East Timor. Years after his discharge in 2009, he suffered a breakdown several months ago and was diagnosed with PTSD.

“After that incident earlier this year the doctors worked hard to get me to Ward 17 but the whole process took about eight weeks, and if it wasn’t for the help of other veterans to get me in there I would’ve been in a general psych ward,” Mr Lang said.

“It’s difficult waiting for so long, because a lot of it is the unknown and the biggest thing with veterans seeking help is they’ve been turned down multiple times before when in the Defence, and this wait feels like maybe nothing is going to happen.”

After being discharged from Ward 17 last month, Mr Lang said that while the staff and the program helped save his life, it was hard not being able to speak to other veterans.

“It makes it difficult because PTSD for veterans is very different to the general civilians’ experience, because you’re so hyper-vigilant and you want to be around people who you can talk to about the same stories,” Mr Lang said.

David Lang went on three deployments to East Timor and Solomon Islands

Since 2002, 42 Australians have been killed while serving in Afghanistan Picture: Gary Ramage

Kristen Stanner, Austin Health’s Divisional Director, said patients referred to Ward 17 as part of their psychological trauma recovery are prioritised based on their symptoms.

As of this week, there are seven veterans on their waiting list, who will be admitted to Ward 17 in the coming days and who will have been waiting on average six to eight weeks to get in.

After years of lobbying by small organisations helping veterans, the RSL Victoria is now expected to make a submission to The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

“The PTRS at Austin Health is a service with a capacity of 20 specialty mental health beds. RSL Victoria does not believe that this is an adequate number of specialty mental health beds,” a spokeswoman for RSL Victoria said.

Between 2001 and 2016, there were a total of 373 suicides among service, reserve and former members of the Defence Force. Picture: Gary Ramage

“RSL Victoria believes that more needs to be done to support the mental health of Veterans, who due to the nature of military service have an increased risk of experiencing mental illness.”

It comes as the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) wrote in the 2016 inquiry into suicide by veterans warning about the lack of veteran-specific hospitals.

“As a result of the outsourcing of veteran health services, treatment for veterans and ex-service personnel are conducted with the use of treatment guidelines and evidence-based care,” the RANZCP submission read.

“Although these represent appropriate mechanisms for developing treatments for the general community, they don’t provide optimal outcomes for veterans and ex-service personnel.”

Originally published as Mental health treatment concerns aired over Ward 17 after veterans turned away