‘Dire’ situation at RDH as patients being left in ED for days

‘SUICIDAL and dangerously psychotic patients’ are waiting in the emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital for up to 48 hours before being moved to the mental health ward, say inside sources

AMA NT said there is not enough beds in the NT to meet demand. PICTURE: ISTOCK

“SUICIDAL and dangerously psychotic patients” are waiting in the emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital for up to 48 hours before being moved into a ward, say inside sources.

One health worker at RDH, who asked not to be named, said the situation was “dire”.

“Such delays affect their care as they’re unnecessarily sedated to keep them restrained, which would not be required if bed flow issues were addressed,” the worker said.

They said from the ED, patients were being transferred into medical wards for care, which were “not equipped to adequately care for mental health patients”.

“The situation has been dire for all patients awaiting ward placement but mental health particularly, which is dangerous due to the associated risks,” the worker said.

“For example, keeping people over-sedated when they ordinarily wouldn’t have to be — and this is a reflection on the environment around as there is nowhere to place them — affects their care and is placing them at risk of medical complication.”

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Australian Medical Association NT branch president Rob Parker said there weren’t enough mental health beds for the number of patients in the Territory who needed them.

Australian Medical Association NT branch president Rob Parker at his office. Picture: KERI MEGELUS

“We’ve got the lowest number of funded mental health beds in Australia,” he said.

“There’s nowhere else for these people to go.”

Dr Parker said he didn’t believe people were being “sedated unnecessarily”.

“Appropriate levels of sedation are used,” he said.

“Yes, if someone is in the mental health ward we might use less because they can always walk around.”

A Top End Health Service spokeswoman said RDH and mental health services worked in collaboration to provide the best possible care for patients.

“We have processes in place whereby the most acute and/ or complex patients are prioritised for the next available bed where there is an over-demand for mental health inpatient places,” she said. “This includes the provision of assessment by mental health staff.”

Last week, Top End Health Service executive director of medical services Charles Pain said RDH had a “number of patients” on the wards who had mental health problems that it couldn’t get into the mental health facility.

The NT News understands after four days of operations being deferred at RDH, today’s elective surgeries are scheduled to go ahead.