❓ A parliamentary question regarding the accuracy and timeliness of information provided by the Minister for Mental Health on mental health deaths and serious incidents. The Minister defends the reporting process, citing data collection complexities.
AnsweredQoN 480Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
MENTAL HEALTH — REPORTING OF DEATHS AND
SERIOUS INCIDENTS
480. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Mental
Health:
I refer to the WA Health operational directive on matters to
be reported to the Chief Psychiatrist in respect of all mental health deaths
and serious incidents, which means that up-to-date information on these matters
should be available to the minister.
(1) Can the
minister explain to the house why she has consistently failed to provide
up-to-date and accurate information to this house on mental health deaths and
serious incidents?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house what action she will take to ensure that, from now
on, she will work with the Chief Psychiatrist to make sure that transparent,
accurate and up-to-date information on mental health deaths and serious
incidents will be reported to this place in the future?
SERIOUS INCIDENTS
480. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Mental
Health:
I refer to the WA Health operational directive on matters to
be reported to the Chief Psychiatrist in respect of all mental health deaths
and serious incidents, which means that up-to-date information on these matters
should be available to the minister.
(1) Can the
minister explain to the house why she has consistently failed to provide
up-to-date and accurate information to this house on mental health deaths and
serious incidents?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house what action she will take to ensure that, from now
on, she will work with the Chief Psychiatrist to make sure that transparent,
accurate and up-to-date information on mental health deaths and serious
incidents will be reported to this place in the future?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2)
I thank the member for this question. It is really in the spirit of what we
have been talking about this morning, again. This information has already been
provided to the member. It has been absolutely clearly stated on more than one
occasion that the data that is provided is preliminary. It is preliminary
because there are things like clinical coding that need to take place. There
are people who become known to people who work in the mental health system
perhaps weeks or even months after they have died, because they are not
currently active patients of the mental health system. So, reporting deaths and
reporting serious incidents is done in a time frame when the mental health
service or the service provider becomes aware of it or knows of it. Some of
these deaths are, as I said, elderly people who have died of old age, for
example. Their families, the people who care for them, or the mental health
services, do become aware of this information, and as soon as they have it,
they provide the information to the Chief Psychiatrist. But there is no
requirement for people to provide that information within 24 hours or the next
day or anything like that; it is when they become aware of it. Sometimes when
people die from cancer, for example, or when people have a heart attack, or
they have other illnesses, or they die from natural causes, and they are people
who have had contact with the mental health service, perhaps five years ago, as
their names become known to the mental health service providers, they provide
that information to the Chief Psychiatrist. So somehow or other expecting that
all of that information is provided immediately to the Chief Psychiatrist is
not very realistic.
I thank the member for this question. It is really in the spirit of what we
have been talking about this morning, again. This information has already been
provided to the member. It has been absolutely clearly stated on more than one
occasion that the data that is provided is preliminary. It is preliminary
because there are things like clinical coding that need to take place. There
are people who become known to people who work in the mental health system
perhaps weeks or even months after they have died, because they are not
currently active patients of the mental health system. So, reporting deaths and
reporting serious incidents is done in a time frame when the mental health
service or the service provider becomes aware of it or knows of it. Some of
these deaths are, as I said, elderly people who have died of old age, for
example. Their families, the people who care for them, or the mental health
services, do become aware of this information, and as soon as they have it,
they provide the information to the Chief Psychiatrist. But there is no
requirement for people to provide that information within 24 hours or the next
day or anything like that; it is when they become aware of it. Sometimes when
people die from cancer, for example, or when people have a heart attack, or
they have other illnesses, or they die from natural causes, and they are people
who have had contact with the mental health service, perhaps five years ago, as
their names become known to the mental health service providers, they provide
that information to the Chief Psychiatrist. So somehow or other expecting that
all of that information is provided immediately to the Chief Psychiatrist is
not very realistic.
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