AMA slams mental health care proposal

THE Australian Medical Association says it cannot overstate the need for additional acute psychiatric beds in the Royal Hobart Hospital, but says the Government’s proposed solution falls well short of requirements.

Acute psychiatric beds at the RHH have been reduced to 32, down from 42 in 2013.

The AMA says the figure is significantly below the national average number of beds per capita, and 10 more acute beds are urgently needed.

The Government has proposed eight short-stay accommodation places — five beds and three chairs — in a new mental health observation unit, which had been slated to open this week.

However, AMA Tasmania president Stuart Day said the average stay in acute psychiatric beds nationally was 15 days, not 48 hours, and the new unit would not be appropriate for long-term stays.

In feedback provided to the ALEXANDRA HUMPHRIES Government, Dr Day wrote that in the three months to October this year three registrars had been assaulted by patients “and ... it is their belief that the proposed unit is not only likely to increase the risk of assaults upon registrars, they also believe that safe mental health care to patients cannot be provided in that unit either”.

The AMA has concerns the unit has no natural light and no access to the outside world because it is behind a locked door, and patients cannot be segregated.

“It’s not an appropriate space, many of our members can’t work out who they would put there because they don’t think it’s therapeutic,” Dr Day said.

Labor Leader Rebecca White zeroed in on the issue during question time yesterday, saying the lack of acute beds was contributing to “unprecedented bed block”.

“The short-stay observation unit that you are proposing at the Royal Hobart Hospital to replace the beds that you cut gives patients no privacy or dignity, and the AMA has told you [it] discriminates against acutely unwell psychiatric patients,” Ms White said.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said he was confident the new unit would take pressure off the emergency department and provide a more suitable treatment environment for mental health patients.

Mr Ferguson said the reduction of acute psychiatric beds at the RHH began during Labor’s last term of government. He said the new unit was not opened on Monday as planned because the Government was still consulting stakeholders.