❓ A WA parliamentary question seeks data on mental health patients under guard in hospitals and ED referrals to mental health services. The response indicates data limitations and resource constraints for providing specific details on guarded patients, but provides aggregate data on ED referrals.
AnsweredQoN 1339Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to media reports that an increasing number of mental health patients are being cared for in mainstream hospitals because of a recent reduction in the acute bed capacity at Graylands Hospital, and I ask: (a) how many mental health patients were being cared for under guard at each hospital facility in Western Australia since 1 July 2013; (b) will the Minister please list each hospital facility where mental health patients were cared for under guard since 1 July 2013; (c) will the Minister please list the organisations that provided the security services at each of the facilities listed in (b); and (d) how many presentations to emergency departments since 1 July 2013 were subsequently referred onto mental health service providers for treatment?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
16 September 2014
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health
Response time
35 days
(a-c) Information regarding mental health patients cared for in Emergency Departments or in wards not designated as 'mental health' under guard by security staff is not captured in the metropolitan and WACHS patient information systems. Therefore, a report is not available to provide this information.
To correctly answer this question would require a manual review of all mental health patient medical records that attended an Emergency Department and/or were admitted to a non-mental health inpatient bed.
Such a review would require significant staffing hours.
Routine internal security services are provided at all sites. This includes the provision of assistance to ensure patient, visitor and staff safety. The diagnosis of the patient is not recorded at the time and it should be noted that security may also be required for relatives of patients and in other situations which may or may not be related to mental health.
(d) Data are presented both, for the region in which the hospitals are located and by usual residence of the patient.
Table 1: ED Attendances where the patients departed the ED to a Mental Health Clinic/Service, or was referred to a Mental Health Clinic/Service, by Hospital Region, from 1 July 2013 - 30 June 2014
Hospital Region
Departed To / Referred to Mental Health
Clinic/Service
Total Attendances
WACHS
50
387,367
Metropolitan Sites
1686
594,315
Total
1736
981, 682
ED attendances are a count of ED activity and not of individual patients. An individual patient may attend the ED on multiple occasions in any given period of time.
To correctly answer this question would require a manual review of all mental health patient medical records that attended an Emergency Department and/or were admitted to a non-mental health inpatient bed.
Such a review would require significant staffing hours.
Routine internal security services are provided at all sites. This includes the provision of assistance to ensure patient, visitor and staff safety. The diagnosis of the patient is not recorded at the time and it should be noted that security may also be required for relatives of patients and in other situations which may or may not be related to mental health.
(d) Data are presented both, for the region in which the hospitals are located and by usual residence of the patient.
Table 1: ED Attendances where the patients departed the ED to a Mental Health Clinic/Service, or was referred to a Mental Health Clinic/Service, by Hospital Region, from 1 July 2013 - 30 June 2014
Hospital Region
Departed To / Referred to Mental Health
Clinic/Service
Total Attendances
WACHS
50
387,367
Metropolitan Sites
1686
594,315
Total
1736
981, 682
ED attendances are a count of ED activity and not of individual patients. An individual patient may attend the ED on multiple occasions in any given period of time.
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