❓ Ms. Hamilton raises concerns about mental health patients waiting long periods in emergency departments. Minister Cook responds with details of initiatives to improve patient flow, increase bed capacity, and enhance data monitoring.
AnsweredQoN 23Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MENTAL HEALTH —
PATIENTS — HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS
23. Ms E. HAMILTON to the Minister for Mental Health:
I refer to reports of mental health
patients waiting three or four days in an emergency department before they can
access a suitable bed. Can the minister update the house on what this
government is doing to ensure that these vulnerable patients receive appropriate
care when and where they need it?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman and Minister for Transport! Minister for Health.
PATIENTS — HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS
23. Ms E. HAMILTON to the Minister for Mental Health:
I refer to reports of mental health
patients waiting three or four days in an emergency department before they can
access a suitable bed. Can the minister update the house on what this
government is doing to ensure that these vulnerable patients receive appropriate
care when and where they need it?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman and Minister for Transport! Minister for Health.
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Minister for Transport, you have your own minister on his feet!
Mr R.H. COOK : I thank the
member for the question. It is an important one about what has become a very
complex and difficult issue for our hospitals to manage. Whilst the majority of
mental health patients who present to emergency departments are seen and
receive treatment within the clinically appropriate time, a small number spend
days in an emergency department awaiting the opportunity to move to a more
appropriate clinical environment. We know that emergency departments are not
the place for people to receive mental health treatment. They are difficult
areas for someone who has a heightened mental health sensitivity, and those
patients do not have the opportunity to get the long-term care they need. This is
the reason we are moving quickly to make major changes to the way in which we
monitor and utilise our current bed capacity, to ensure that mental health
patients get the opportunity to be transferred as soon as possible to a more
appropriate care setting.
An extensive program of work has
begun across the health system to implement an assertive patient flow for
mental health patients, which will improve the process of admitting mental
health patients who present to EDs. Teams have been established at each of the
hospitals, as well as a centralised patient flow medical director, who will
have ultimate authority, if needed, to ensure that a patient gets out of an ED
and into a hospital bed. We want to identify where that bed is across the
hospital system and move that patient out of the emergency department as
quickly as possible. This is a very important piece of work. What it means is
that if, for example, a patient presents to an east metropolitan health service
and a bed is available in south metro, we can get them there as quickly as
possible. I have mandated this system and have said that if any patient spends
longer than 24 hours in an emergency department bed, there will be a mandatory
reporting regime to me, as minister, to ensure that we get on top of this
vexing issue. For the first time ever, we will have real-time data. A new
dashboard is set to go live in March, which will give staff a digital overview
of bed capacity right across the system to identify where we can get these
patients to as soon as possible.
There is also an issue around bed capacity and whether we
have enough beds. I am very pleased to say that we have committed to an extra
72 mental health beds in WA, including an eight-bed mental health observation
area and 12-bed acute psychiatric unit at Royal Perth Hospital. The member for
Joondalup is pleased to be part of delivering up to 30 new mental health beds
at Joondalup Health Service, and St John of God Midland Public Hospital will
get a mental health emergency centre as part of the methamphetamine taskforce
recommendations. Geraldton Regional Hospital will receive a four-bed mental
health short-stay unit, as well as 12 extra psychiatric beds.
The
McGowan government will spend over $925 million on mental health services this
year alone, which is 10 per cent more than was spent by the previous
Liberal–National government. We want to make sure that mental health
patients who come to an ED get the best possible care. This is a growing
problem for our emergency departments. It is important that we constantly
cross-examine the configuration of services to ensure that patients get
transferred as quickly as possible out of our EDs and into a more appropriate
care setting, so that they can get on the road to recovery much faster.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Minister for Transport, you have your own minister on his feet!
Mr R.H. COOK : I thank the
member for the question. It is an important one about what has become a very
complex and difficult issue for our hospitals to manage. Whilst the majority of
mental health patients who present to emergency departments are seen and
receive treatment within the clinically appropriate time, a small number spend
days in an emergency department awaiting the opportunity to move to a more
appropriate clinical environment. We know that emergency departments are not
the place for people to receive mental health treatment. They are difficult
areas for someone who has a heightened mental health sensitivity, and those
patients do not have the opportunity to get the long-term care they need. This is
the reason we are moving quickly to make major changes to the way in which we
monitor and utilise our current bed capacity, to ensure that mental health
patients get the opportunity to be transferred as soon as possible to a more
appropriate care setting.
An extensive program of work has
begun across the health system to implement an assertive patient flow for
mental health patients, which will improve the process of admitting mental
health patients who present to EDs. Teams have been established at each of the
hospitals, as well as a centralised patient flow medical director, who will
have ultimate authority, if needed, to ensure that a patient gets out of an ED
and into a hospital bed. We want to identify where that bed is across the
hospital system and move that patient out of the emergency department as
quickly as possible. This is a very important piece of work. What it means is
that if, for example, a patient presents to an east metropolitan health service
and a bed is available in south metro, we can get them there as quickly as
possible. I have mandated this system and have said that if any patient spends
longer than 24 hours in an emergency department bed, there will be a mandatory
reporting regime to me, as minister, to ensure that we get on top of this
vexing issue. For the first time ever, we will have real-time data. A new
dashboard is set to go live in March, which will give staff a digital overview
of bed capacity right across the system to identify where we can get these
patients to as soon as possible.
There is also an issue around bed capacity and whether we
have enough beds. I am very pleased to say that we have committed to an extra
72 mental health beds in WA, including an eight-bed mental health observation
area and 12-bed acute psychiatric unit at Royal Perth Hospital. The member for
Joondalup is pleased to be part of delivering up to 30 new mental health beds
at Joondalup Health Service, and St John of God Midland Public Hospital will
get a mental health emergency centre as part of the methamphetamine taskforce
recommendations. Geraldton Regional Hospital will receive a four-bed mental
health short-stay unit, as well as 12 extra psychiatric beds.
The
McGowan government will spend over $925 million on mental health services this
year alone, which is 10 per cent more than was spent by the previous
Liberal–National government. We want to make sure that mental health
patients who come to an ED get the best possible care. This is a growing
problem for our emergency departments. It is important that we constantly
cross-examine the configuration of services to ensure that patients get
transferred as quickly as possible out of our EDs and into a more appropriate
care setting, so that they can get on the road to recovery much faster.
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