GEELONG WORST IN VIC FOR MENTAL-HEALTH BEDS:

Barwon has low number of beds and it could go lower

ACCESS to public acute mental-health beds in the Geelong region is the lowest in the state and likely to become worse, figures show.

Barwon Health has 14.2 public mental health beds per 100,000 people, the lowest in the state and well below the Victorian average of 18.6.

The data — detailed in the interim report of the Royal Commission in to Victoria’s Mental Health System — found unless urgent action was taken that number was expected to drop to 11.7 by 2032.

In the report commissioners, Penny Armytage, Allan Fels, Alex Cockram and Bernadette McSherry found Barwon Health and Melbourne Health should be allocated 135 additional acute beds by mid-2022. They found the majority should be delivered by mid-2021.

“It is well recognised that Victoria’s public specialist clinical mental health services are operating in a state of crisis because of under-investment and growing demand for services,” they wrote.

“Demand pressures have meant the thresholds to access acute care are higher, and people living with mental illness are receiving less and poorer quality care, and experiencing worse outcomes.

“The scale of the problem is such that a comprehensive statewide approach is needed to address service shortages and to develop new models of care that will improve service quality and outcomes both in the community and in hospital settings.”

Barwon Health’s clinical director for mental health drug and alcohol, Steve Moylan, said he welcomed the commission’s recommendation.

“The interim report is a glimpse into where the royal commission is heading and where the gaps in the mental health system lie,” Associate Professor Moylan said.

“Barwon Health sees the royal commission as a once-ina-generation opportunity to reform and improve the mental-health system to improve our community’s access to high-quality care and support, whenever it is required.”

In a submission to the royal commission in August, Barwon Health revealed presentations for mental-health issues at Geelong hospital’s emergency department had risen almost 42 per cent over the past three years.

The health provider also revealed Geelong hospital is now deemed a “high-risk public zone” by Victoria Police, with Barwon Health conceding assaults occur on a “regular basis:

Other recommendations in the report include:

AN additional 170 youth and adult acute beds to help respond to urgent demand; BOOSTING the mental health workforce including through funded graduate positions, post-graduate scholarships and psychiatry rotations; CREATING an Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Centre and expanding social and emotional wellbeing teams statewide to better support Aboriginal Victorians; and,

FUNDING outreach and clinical supports for people who have attempted suicide.

The commission has received more than 8200 contributions, including through consultations, round tables, public hearings, surveys with more than 3200 submissions from individuals and organisations.