NSW Budget: $700m to be injected into Australian-first infrastructure fund to boost bed numbers
A $700 million boost to mental health funding will provide more hospital wards and beds across NSW. The state government will establish an Australian-first infrastructure fund to boost bed numbers for patients including children, teens and mums.
NSW
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A $700 million boost to mental health funding will provide more hospital wards and beds across NSW.
The state government will establish an Australian-first infrastructure fund to boost bed numbers for patients including children, teens and mums.
Next Tuesday’s state budget will also include $82.5 million to bring the state’s spending on mental health to $2 billion.
That money will be used to recruit an extra 260 doctors, nurses and other medicos to boost the mental health workforce across the state.
The blockbuster spending will also provide an extra 1400 overnight hospital stays for mentally ill patients at a cost of $39.4 million.
There will also be $100 million a year for four years to strengthen early intervention, specialist community mental health teams, enhance psychosocial supports and moving long-term hospital patients into the community.
Community mental health services and support will be boosted by $42 million.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said that the $700 million infrastructure fund will be in addition to the initiatives covered by the $2 billion.
The fund will allow for planning to begin on new mental health units that will include six to 10 beds for children and adolescents, 20 beds for older people, 20 medium secure beds and 6-12 beds for mothers and their babies.
The government will take about a year to assess which hospitals across the state need the extra beds, with Western Sydney hospitals among the frontrunners for extra services.
The fund will also provide up to 260 revolutionary “step-up step-down” beds in centres designed to transition patients from long-term hospital stays to their own homes.
The forensic mental health network will also get new beds, while money will also be set aside for renovating existing mental health units.
“This is the biggest single investment in mental health infrastructure in Australia’s history and reaffirms the NSW government’s commitment to improving frontline services for vulnerable members of the community,” Mr Perrottet said yesterday.
Mental Health Minister Tanya Davies said the statewide infrastructure program will allow planning to begin for more contemporary mental health facilities across the state.
“This Budget will support much-needed upgrades to some of our most outdated facilities and Safe Assessment Rooms across the state, while also allowing planning to begin on a number of new specialist mental health units. We are in the midst of a 10-year reform of how mental health care is delivered.”