Family demands answers after mental health patient’s treatment at Royal Hobart Hospital

A family has claimed a young woman was taunted by a Royal Hobart Hospital nurse, forced from the hospital and found just minutes later unconscious on a path outside.

• Critical Tassie hospital on highest possible escalation level
• Royal Hobart Hospital at capacity, in ‘extraordinarily difficult position’

THE family of a young Glenorchy woman wants to know why she was forced to leave the Royal Hobart Hospital, only to be found minutes later unconscious on the footpath near the hospital’s entrance.

Independent member for Clark, Kristie Johnston, said the experience of the Lockett family was one that was “all too familiar to those individuals and families who live with poor mental health”.

“It is not good enough for people to be turned away when they are in urgent need of care,” Ms Johnston said.

“My plea for [Health] Minister [Jeremy] Rockliff to meet with the family, so he can hear first-hand their experience, has fallen on deaf ears. He needs to listen and then take action.

“It is literally a matter of life and death.”

Chantelle Lockett, the mother of the patient, with Craig Lockett, the uncle of the patient, are unhappy with the process of care for mental health patients at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Chantelle Lockett said her 22-year-old daughter, who has depression and anxiety and is on a disability pension, went to hospital on July 11 after telling her mother her medication was not working and she would “hurt herself or someone else”.

Ms Lockett said after a long wait her daughter was given medication and sent home but the next day her condition worsened, police were called and she was taken to the RHH.

“She was taken into a cubicle and we were told they would admit her to the psychiatric ward so I told her I would go home and get her clothes but I’d only been home 10 minutes when she rang and said ‘they’re sending me home’.

“A psychiatric doctor had come and told her ‘I’m not going to see you, my shift is finishing and I’m going home’.”

The daughter became agitated and her mother said a nurse told her: “Boo hoo, poor you, I’ve got 80 patients to look after.”

“The security guard grabbed her, she was on the ground with his knee on her shoulder and he removed her from the hospital.”

Ms Lockett was returning to pick up her daughter and saw a motorist had stopped after seeing a woman lying on the footpath at the top of the hospital ramp used by ambulances.

“She was unconscious and I tried to wake her but couldn’t so I rushed down to the emergency department screaming for help but they said she wasn’t on hospital property so to call an ambulance. After about 15 minutes, an ambulance reversed up the ramp.”

Her daughter spent two days in hospital with concerns about damage to her heart.

The ambulance ramp leading down to the Royal Hobart Hospital emergency department. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Craig Lockett is angry there is no designated area in emergency for mentally unwell patients and that his niece was treated badly.

“She was seeking help for her anxiety and depression and she was kicked out of the hospital on her own,” Mr Lockett said.

“How they could do that is just unbelievable. Politicians spout on about the record amount of money they are spending on health but it doesn’t fix anything. We need a new mental health department and they have to do something about the shortage of doctors and nurses.”

Mr Rockliff said the government was working on providing new short-term mental health recovery beds in Hobart.

“While not appropriate to comment on individual cases, our government is taking a best-practice approach to building a contemporary, integrated model of mental health care so people get more holistic support at the right place and right time,” he said.

“We want to increase focus on appropriate community support options, with reduced reliance on acute hospital-based services, including emergency departments.”

For 24/7 crisis support, contact Kids Helpline at kidshelp.com.au or call 1800 551 800, Lifeline 131 114, or headspace.org.au

Bed closures to improve service, RHH claims

REALLOCATING a suite of dedicated respiratory beds at the Royal Hobart Hospital would free up space for other patients, the hospital’s chief says.

The hospital has shut down its Acute Respiratory Illness Area (ARIA), Chief Executive, Hospitals South, Susan Gannon confirmed.

The Royal Hobart Hospital previously boasted a dedicated respiratory area in its emergency department.

But its abolition would free up 10 beds in the hospital’s emergency department — allowing greater flow of patients through the system, Ms Gannon said.

“This will mean that patients coming to the Emergency Department will have more beds available when they arrive for review,” she said.

The Royal Hobart Hospital and the Hedberg Building. Picture Eddie Safarik

“The repurposing of this space has no impact on patients, as the RHH has strict protocols in place for anyone presenting to the hospital with respiratory symptoms.

“All patients are all still screened at upon arrival and the risk of Covid is assessed according to their symptoms and appropriate clinical measures are put into place.

“Staff use PPE for all patients who are at risk and patients who show respiratory symptoms are allocated to single rooms if they assessed as of higher risk based on their clinical picture.

Ms Gannon said the hospital needed to respond flexibly during the additional load placed on it during the pandemic.

“The decision to close the ARIA is not unique to the RHH with many other hospitals, including NSW Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, closing or reducing their ARI capacity,” she said.

“One thing we have learnt over the past year and a half is that, in a time of Covid, it is necessary to be flexible and adaptable.

“It might be necessary in the future to restart ARIA and if that is the case, then we are able to do this with minimal lead time.

“The decision to step down and repurpose ARIA was made after consulting with experts in infection Control, ED medical and nursing staff, the ANMF and Ambulance Tasmania.”

She said the new arrangements had benefited respiratory patients, the cubicles where they received care having hard walls between then and being more visible to staff.

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