A parliamentary question regarding mental health bed capacity in regional WA hospitals, admissions of children under 18, length of stay, and whether they were kept alongside adult patients. The answer provides data on bed numbers, child admissions, and the practice of admitting children to both psychiatric and general wards.

AnsweredQoN 4620Legislative Council
Asked
7 September 2011
Portfolio
Mental Health

QuestionView source ↗

For each hospital in regional Western Australia, I ask -
(1) What is the bed capacity for the admission of mental health patients?
(2) Have any children under the age of 18 years been admitted as mental health patients since 1 July 2010?
(3) If yes to (2), how many children and how long was their stay?
(4) Were these children kept alongside adult patients?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
1 November 2011
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health
Response time
55 days
1) The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has 43 authorised beds. They are in Bunbury (27), Albany(9) and Kalgoorlie(7). All WACHS hospitals admit people with mental health conditions.
2) Yes.
3) For WACHS hospitals 261 children with mental health conditions were admitted and discharged in the financial year beginning 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 with an average length of stay of 2.4 days. This figure includes all Mental Health admissions for children under the age of 18 to designated psychiatric wards and non-psychiatric wards.
4) Yes. It is not viable to have a specialist child and adolescent mental health unit in non-metropolitan hospitals. With some children it is considered more clinically appropriate to admit them to their local hospital with special arrangements.
29 were kept on the designated psychiatric wards and 203 on the general wards.
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