Overburdened mental health system laid bare in shock survey
Warning. DISTRESSING CONTENT. Mental health patients in the NT have lifted the lid on their experiences at the overburdened Royal Darwin Hospital in a shocking survey.
Northern Territory
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WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT.
MENTAL health patients in the Northern Territory have lifted the lid on their disturbing experiences at the overburdened Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) in a shocking new survey.
The results of a survey of about 130 people either living with or caring for someone with mental illness found 18 per cent were forced to stay in the Emergency Department when presenting at RDH due a bed shortage in the mental health ward.
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Health Minister Natasha Fyles said there has been an increase in mental health client presentations at RDH during Covid-19.
The ‘Your Voice Matters’ survey, conducted by NT Lived Experience Network, also showed 43 per cent of respondents didn’t feel their right to access mental health treatment when needed was being upheld in the NT.
Respondents were invited to share their personal experiences in the NT.
One disturbing account came from a woman who said she presented at emergency at RDH with her partner who was having suicidal thoughts in 2017. She claims a mental health nurse there said they were having “relationship issues and that relationship counselling was needed”.
“I took my partner home where he continued to have suicidal thoughts and have since stopped him myself likely over one hundred times since we went to the ED,” she said.
Another mental health patient, a 15-year-old with autism spectrum disorder, claimed they had been turned away from RDH three times while at “crisis point.”
The ‘Your Voice Matters’ survey has been submitted to the NT Government ahead of its review of the NT Mental Health and Related Services Act (1998).
It is understood Minister Fyles met with the NT Lived Experience Network’s members last December and read the survey results.
If you need support, contact Lifeline, 131 114, lifeline.org.au; Beyond Blue, 1300 224 636; Kids Helpline, 1800 551 800
Originally published as Overburdened mental health system laid bare in shock survey
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