❓ Hon Stephen Dawson requests data on mental health patients waiting in emergency departments and administrative changes affecting admittance recording. The Minister provides the requested data and clarifies the role of mental health observation units.
AnsweredQoN 3791Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to Supplementary Information C10 provided to the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee on 10 June 2011 found at http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/commit.nsf/(Evidence+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/CF30D98E4E1061CC482578B1001BE1FC/$file/ef.ehw12.110615.003.aqton.MHC.pdf , which shows information on mental health patients held in emergency departments for more than 24 hours from 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2011, and ask: (a) can the Minister please provide the same data for the period 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015; (b) can the Minister please detail all administrative changes, including the date of any changes, that affect directly or indirectly how admittance to emergency is recorded during the above periods; (c) are patients ever admitted to a hospital facility and held in emergency while waiting for a mental health bed; and (d) if yes to (c), in how many instances were patients admitted to a hospital while waiting in emergency for a mental health bed during the period 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
24 March 2016
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health
Response time
37 days
(a) Data is provided for each Health Service in Attachment 1. Please see tabled papers […] Please note that this information includes those patients in mental health observation units. Mental health observation units have been established since 2011 to hold people with acute mental health symptoms for up to 72 hours whilst monitoring and stabilising their mental health state, with a view to determining whether they can be discharged for ongoing care in the community, or need admission to a specialist mental health unit.
(b) No such administrative changes have been made. The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has implemented webPAS ED in the Wheatbelt and Pilbara regions. Whilst new Information Technology systems have been introduced, these would not have changed the underlying business rules in relation to how the data is recorded in line with policy and standards.
(c) Yes.
(d) Data is provided for each Health Service in Attachment 2. Please see tabled papers […]
(b) No such administrative changes have been made. The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has implemented webPAS ED in the Wheatbelt and Pilbara regions. Whilst new Information Technology systems have been introduced, these would not have changed the underlying business rules in relation to how the data is recorded in line with policy and standards.
(c) Yes.
(d) Data is provided for each Health Service in Attachment 2. Please see tabled papers […]
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