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Mental health failures: lessons to be learnt
Speaking during Mental Health Week, AMA Victoria President Dr Mark Yates said failures in the mental health sector were harming Victorians.“AMA Victoria members are telling us there are still serious problems in the system as they struggle to gain appropriate and timely care for their patients. This must be addressed immediately.”
Dr Yates said stories such as that of Belgrave GP Dennis Gration, who had a patient die after being unable to access timely care, highlighted the gaps in the system which have serious consequences for patients, their families and friends and health care workers.
“Victoria has about 30 per cent less in-patient mental health (acute and psychiatric hospital) beds per 100,000 population compared to the rest of Australia. It is little wonder we are hearing stories such as that of Dr Gration.
“Dedicated facilities in emergency departments for patients with acute mental illness and a central register of available mental health beds so that doctors can find available beds for their patients are essential areas Victorian political parties must commit to before the November poll,” Dr Yates said.
A funding commitment of about $15 million for these two areas could make a huge difference to access to timely care for those with acute mental illness,” Dr Yates said.
Dr Yates said the central register of acute mental health beds would assist referring hospitals to secure urgently, appropriate intensive mental health care for patients in a timely manner which would help relieve pressure in emergency departments.
“AMA Victoria acknowledges there has been considerable investment in mental health in recent years, at both a State and Federal level, but this follows years of neglect and there is still much to be done.
“The Federal Government announcement this week is important, but unless our emergency departments are better equipped and mental health beds can be accessed, the system will continue to struggle.
“The lack of timely access to care means many patients are discharged from emergency departments early putting them at serious risk and placing an unreasonable burden on the patients, their carers and families, GPs and community psychiatrists.
“Emergency departments must be better equipped to deal with acute mental health patients and they then need to be able to move those patients to appropriate facilities to ensure they have on-going care,” Dr Yates said.
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Dr Dennis Gration - Vicdoc story
- Size: 139 kB
- Type: pdf
- Published: October 11, 2006
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