❓ Hon Tjorn Sibma asks about long-stay mental health inpatients, including definition and numbers. The Minister acknowledges the complexity of defining 'long stay' but provides data on patient stays in specialized mental health wards and outlines a government initiative to support patient transition to rehabilitative settings.
AnsweredQoN 148Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to patients currently identified as long stay admitted mental health in-patients, and I ask: (a) what constitutes a long stay admitted in-patient and how many such patients are currently in the health system; and (b) of the present cohort of long stay in-patients in (a), how many have been admitted for periods of: (i) up to six months; (ii) between six to 12 months; (iii) between one to two years; and (iv) longer than two years?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
4 August 2021
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Health
Response time
8 days
I am advised:
(a) Due to the complex nature of classifying mental health conditions and treatments, there is no standard definition used to identify long stay mental health inpatient inpatients.
(b) The following information is defined as all patients currently admitted in a specialised mental health ward as at 30 May 2021.
(i) 1 day up to 6 months is 724 patients.
(ii) between 6 – 12 months is 21 patients.
(iii) between 1 – 2yrs is 27 patients.
(iv) longer than 2 years are 53 patients.
The state government is actively working to support long stay hospital patients transition to a more appropriate rehabilitative setting. In May 2021 a Long Stay Patient Steering Committee was formed comprising WA Health, the Mental Health Commission and the Department of Communities. These agencies are working together to individually case manage highly complex patients which will ultimately deliver a rehabilitative outcome and free up acute inpatient hospital beds.
(a) Due to the complex nature of classifying mental health conditions and treatments, there is no standard definition used to identify long stay mental health inpatient inpatients.
(b) The following information is defined as all patients currently admitted in a specialised mental health ward as at 30 May 2021.
(i) 1 day up to 6 months is 724 patients.
(ii) between 6 – 12 months is 21 patients.
(iii) between 1 – 2yrs is 27 patients.
(iv) longer than 2 years are 53 patients.
The state government is actively working to support long stay hospital patients transition to a more appropriate rehabilitative setting. In May 2021 a Long Stay Patient Steering Committee was formed comprising WA Health, the Mental Health Commission and the Department of Communities. These agencies are working together to individually case manage highly complex patients which will ultimately deliver a rehabilitative outcome and free up acute inpatient hospital beds.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.