Mental health patients are not a ‘burden’ on our health system, they’re fellow Territorians who need our help
Revelations about the state of the Top End’s mental health services weren’t the worst bombshells of the past week. Rather, it was that Health Minister Natasha Fyles referred to mental health patients as causing a ‘burden’, writes DENISE CAHILL.
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THIS week’s revelations about the real state of mental health services in the Top End weren’t the worst bombshells of the week.
It was that Health Minister Natasha Fyles referred to mental health patients as causing a “burden”.
On Mix 104.9 with Katie Woolf, Ms Fyles said: “Yes, I do acknowledge that mental health patients have caused a burden on Royal Darwin Hospital. I’m working with RDH and Department of Health around how we can alleviate the pressure”.
People suffering from mental health are sick.
Violent? Sometimes.
Vulnerable? Always.
A burden? No.
They are sick and in need of specialist care.
Until the Territory and federal governments put significant funding and effort in to developing a model for mental health services, patients will continue to be admitted to areas like the emergency department, where there isn’t the resourcing or expertise to treat them.
A design tender for an 18-bed mental health unit and dedicated stabilisation and referral area was released last week.
Facilities will include a new mental health inpatient unit with “at least” 18 beds, a stabilisation and referral area and a transition zone between the two facilities.
Tender documents say the facilities are intended to provide a “stepped care approach” to mental health care, “which means people receive support that matches their level of need”.
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Last Tuesday, 17 mental health patients could not be accommodated at the hospital’s mental health ward because of a lack of beds.
Yet the new facility, that hasn’t even hit the design part of the process, will only have 18 beds.
This suggests that the multimillion-dollar facility will be bursting at the seams before it’s even built and mental health patients will continue to be put under the care of under-resourced health professionals.
It means incidents like the stabbing of a security guard in the RDH emergency department by a mental health patient known to be violent in early May could happen again.
Ms Fyles said the new mental health facility would complement existing mental health facilities at RDH and work closely with the emergency department.
The RDH emergency department can’t be the overflow area for mental health patients.
Over in Geelong, the Victorian government is investing $16m to deliver a new Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Services Community Hub.
The five-storey centre will provide greater access to treatment and support services for people experiencing mental illness and addiction.
The hub will consolidate existing services on to one site and provide extended operating hours, including on weekends and public holidays.
Services will include assessment, navigation, care planning, treatment, wellbeing support and education.
Clinicians will provide telephone, online, walk-in, at-home and outreach services.
The hub will also include space for clinicians and researchers to come together and drive mental health service improvement.
In September last year, I wrote in this column about the need for mental health to be a top priority for national cabinet.
The Prime Minister, chief ministers and premiers need to develop a deliberate approach to address mental health care needs across the country, like they have for the coronavirus pandemic.
How is it that we can lead the world in fighting a coronavirus pandemic but can’t provide enough beds for vulnerable, sick people diagnosed with a serious mental health issue?
These people aren’t causing a “burden” Ms Fyles, they’re Territorians who need our help.
Denise Cahill is the Head of News at the NT News
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