Woman’s tragic death in unit a catalyst for change: minister

EVERY mental health unit in NSW will have “24-hour, everyday on-site supervision” under a major overhaul of the system.

CCTV footage of mental health patient Miriam Merten staggering in a hospital corridor.

EVERY mental health unit in NSW will have “24-hour, everyday on-site supervision” under a major overhaul of the system that will also drastically cut the number of patients put into seclusion and stop them from being locked up for more than four hours.

Mandatory public reporting of rates of seclusion and restraint in every hospitals will also be ­introduced.

There will be tough new minimum skill standards and hiring protocols for the sector too.

How The Daily Telegraph revealed Ms Merten’s shocking plight last year.

The sweeping reforms will be announced by the government today, nearly one year after The Daily Telegraph unearthed the “appalling” CCTV footage of mother-of-two Miriam Merten dying from brain injuries after being dumped drugged and naked in a tiny seclusion room for hours at Lismore Base Hospital in 2014.

Ms Merten fell and hit her head at least 20 times in seclusion.

Ms Merten was in the corridor for more than an hour.

CCTV shows Ms Merten locked in a tiny seclusion room.

A nurse cleans the corridor on the night Ms Merten died.

Miriam was admitted to Lismore Base Hospital in 2014.

Ms Merten’s death was “a catalyst for change”.

Her death prompted the landmark Wright Review into mental healthcare, which exposed the “nightmare” of hospitals regularly locking patients up like “prisons” and where “discrimination” could be found “at all levels” of staff.

In its official response to that review, the Berejiklian government will today recognise that patients put into seclusion “felt angry, upset, lonely, abandoned, scared, vulnerable, humiliated, worthless, depressed, punished, trapped”.

It promises that new rules will mean “seclusion will be less frequent, duration of seclusion will be shorter and the likelihood of seclusion is reduced”.

A new standard has also been set that gives hospitals a target of 5.1 episodes of seclusion and restraint per 1000 occupied bed days.

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This target was previously 6.8 episodes per 1000 occupied bed days.

The government says the new benchmark is “ambitious but reachable”.

Mental Health Minister Tanya Davies.

NSW Health also has less than one year to come up with a “single, simplified, principles-based policy” that works towards the “elimination” of seclusion and restraint of patients.

Mental Health Minister Tanya Davies said all 19 recommendations from the Wright Review would be implemented.

“The tragic death of Lismore woman Miriam Merten was the catalyst for change — and now we have a plan that will greatly ­improve the safety of mental health patients and better support staff,” Mrs Davies told The Daily Telegraph.