‘Hospital at home’ recommendation made in bid to ease Queensland’s mental health crisis

Health authorities need to think smarter about providing “hospital beds” that aren’t physical beds, an inquiry has been told.

Health authorities need to think smarter about providing “hospital beds” that aren’t physical beds, a parliamentary committee considering Queensland’s mental health crisis has been told.

Amid the state’s emergency department woes, Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic has suggested community beds or “hospital at home” would be a better option for many who found it traumatising to be admitted into hospital with mental illness.

Mr Frkovic told the inquiry, called in response to reporting in The Courier-Mail into the dire state of services, authorities needed to think outside the box.

“I think part of the answer is that we’ve got to get out of the frame of thinking what the definition of the bed is,” he said.

“I’ve seen other countries, in other jurisdictions, that provide beds in different ways that aren’t in hospitals that support people.”

He said innovation might include community facilities where people experiencing similar problems could stay, as well as “hospital at home”.

Ivan Frkovic the Mental Health Commissioner. Photo Steve Pohlner

“A bed in its own right is not going to be the answer to my acute phase, it’s the support that I get,” he said.

“So if we could use your bed and provide the level of intensity of support that you need in hospital in the home, we might be able to deal with you much better in the home than putting you in a bed.

“And in actual fact, if you talk to consumers and carers, they will tell you that one of the most traumatic experiences they’ve had was an admission to an acute, inpatient bed.”

Discussing the lack of services in regional areas, Mr Frkovic said community health centres that happen to have “eight beds upstairs” might be better than inpatient units that small populations couldn’t sustain.

He said such centres, which exist overseas, could be the answer to service shortfalls in western Queensland.

“There’s no hospital admission, there’s no blue tag that I’ve been admitted,” he said.

“But when things are unravelling for me, I can actually go and stay there for a couple of days before things become a crisis and I end up in Rockhampton.”

Mr Frkovic applauded the Commonwealth’s Head 2 Health services, but said the five centres earmarked for Queensland was “nowhere near what we need”.

He said the Victorian Government had decided to build a further 60 on top of 15 funded by the Commonwealth.

“Those centres aren’t going to be the answers to all our problems but they’re certainly a phenomenal way to get people into services early,” he said.

Queensland Health Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs executive director Associate Professor John Allan announced it would be trialling mental health beds in Mt Isa and hopefully expanding to other towns.

But there were issues attracting specialist staff to regional areas, which was also being worked on, he said.