New crisis support space to fast-track mental health patients out of Bundaberg Hospital ED
A new crisis support space announced will improve care and relieve pressure from the embattled Bundaberg Hospital Emergency Department, MP Tom Smith and health service staff say.
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A new service fast-tracking mental health patients out of the Emergency Department will deliver improved care and relieve pressure on the embattled Bundaberg Hospital ED, according to Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service leadership and staff.
The new service, called The Lighthouse Crisis Support Space, will enable patients presenting to the Emergency Department in mental distress to be fast-tracked out of the ED to access care from peer workers and mental health clinicians.
With Bundaberg Hospital ED having the worst wait-times in the state, the new service will relieve some pressure from the ED by providing an alternative pathway for mental health patients.
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But Acting Chief Executive of Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Fiona Sewell denied that alleviating pressure from the ED is a core intention of the new service, saying instead that it is a “side benefit”.
“The Lighthouse Crisis Support Space isn’t actually about relieving pressure in the emergency department – it’s about providing the right support and the right care in the right place for the right person at the right time,” Mrs Sewell said in a media conference at Bundaberg Hospital on Monday, April 3.
“So while a side benefit and advantage of that will be that it will relieve some distress on the emergency department, it’s more about providing the right care in the right place.”
The project is funded by the Queensland government’s $1.6bn Better Care Together five-year mental health plan announced for the 2022-23 budget.
Bundaberg MP Tom Smith said that the project will deliver improved care for patients presenting to the ED in mental health distress.
“(The project) is all about making sure that we’re providing an alternative pathway of care to people who present the emergency department who are suffering some form of mental distress, or … crisis,” Mr Smith said.
“Sometimes the Emergency Department isn’t the most suitable place for someone who’s going through a form of mental trauma.”
The project will be the second mental health crisis support space to be built in the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service after The Oasis, a crisis support space staffed by peer workers at Hervey Bay Hospital.
600 patients have gone through The Oasis since it was opened in February 2022.
Senior Peer Coordinator for the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Carey Thomson said that the numbers of people seeking assistance for mental distress at Bundaberg Hospital is currently “very high” primarily due to the housing crisis.
“It’s very high at the moment – the housing distress is at its height, and it’s causing lots of long term hopelessness for people,” Mrs Thomson said.
“So people are responding with this feeling of ‘this is never going to change’.
“And we can’t fix homelessness for people, but we can be here to say, ‘we’re going to be with you, you don’t have to do this alone’.”
The Lighthouse Crisis Support Space is expected to open in late 2023.
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