Mental health patients waiting 23 hours for inpatient care | ABC NEWS
So, what sort of increase in mental health presentations to emergency departments have there been? Oh, there’s been a significant increase over the last seven years, which is really disappointing. We’ve had we released a report seven years ago highlighting the the extreme length of stay that people suffering from mental health problems have in our emergency departments. Uh we called for action back then and seven years later we have performed the report and things have got significantly worse. It’s really disappointing, Ross. So, how much have weight times for beds increased by over that time? Well, uh, we’ve now found that, um, certain states there’s, uh, significant length of stay, um, where it’s requiring, um, 23 hours for for 90% of people to who need admitted to actually get to a bed. So, we think this emergency departments are not therapeutic environments, um, for for people suffering from mental health crisis. So, we we need to get them the care that they deserve in in in therapeutic environments. So, what happens to people who present to ED and there isn’t a bed? It’s the opposite of a therapeutic environment for them. It is by necessity are the lights are always on. They are noisy. There are people screaming in pain in other parts of the emergency department. Uh there are limited access to showering and toilet facilities as there would be in a normal ward. And sometimes these people are spending multiple days in emergency departments. I think I think for most of us that work in large emergency departments, every Monday morning if you come on shift, there will be somebody that will have been kept in our emergency department since since Friday afternoon waiting for for inpatient mental health care that they deserve. And these are mainly acute cases, are they? Yeah. Yeah. that we we our report has highlighted that more people are coming to emergency departments with mental health problems and they are um sicker they are more complex and it’s disproportionately affecting our first nations aboriginal and touristra islander populations as well so we need some urgent call for action so we mentioned three states where the problem is particularly acute that South Australia WA Tasmania why is the issue particularly bad in those places it’s bad almost everywhere to be honest it’s I don’t want to particularly highlight those states. Um, a shout out to the the ICT have made small improvements in certain aspects of this. Um, but but almost every other state and territory um have had significant declines in in the in their performance of emergency departments. We’re it’s taking us longer to get to see these people from the waiting room. Um, and it’s taking longer for them for those that do need admitted. It’s taking longer for them to get to therapeutic environments on the ward or in the community. And Peter, why are so many more people going to ED with mental health issues instead of finding help from elsewhere in the system? It’s it’s a chronic lack of underinvestment in the community is the underlying problem here. We we absolutely need more inpatient beds at the moment as well. But the underlying problem is that there has not been enough investment in community mental health to meet the the increasing needs of the community and this needs to change otherwise we’re just going to be having the same conversation in another seven years. Are there mental health initiatives though which are working? You mentioned small improvements in the ACT and which could be expanded. Yeah, there there are lots of um uh examples of good practice that’s happening throughout our states and territories. Um including alternates to the emergency department such as safe haven cafes that that people suffering from mental health crisis can go and get a supportive safe environment that’s uh that’s much more therapeutic than a than a noisy bright emergency department and perhaps even avoid um having to go to an emergency department or get admitted to a hospital. So, so we need we need significant expansion in community mental health services to try and um reverse this trend. What are your fears for the future if no action is taken? If no action taken, we are going to have emergency departments full of people being exposed to an anti- therapeutic environment um which is bad for their mental health, making their making them sicker and making their their hospital stay even longer with negative outcomes from that.
A report by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) has detailed an overstretched and under-resourced sector, leaving mental health inpatients waiting for extremely long hours without appropriate care.
Dr Peter Allely, president of the ACEM, is calling for investment in specialised facilities for mental health care to address the long wait times in an ‘anti-therapeutic environment’ for inpatients.
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