Page 2305 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 1 November 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
question, Mr Speaker, is some announcement of the achievements of the Government in relation to mental health in the Territory. I think one of the most important achievements of late is my announcement of the Mental Health Advisory Committee which has been established and which has had its first meeting.
That is going to be a fundamental part of the development of government policy on mental health, and I informed that meeting that that would be the case. The committee is made up of important people from the community who are concerned with mental health, and I am sure that all of their policy deliberations will be positive ones.
In relation to the delivery of mental health services, the Government announced a new policy proposal for a 24-hour mental health service in the last budget, and this initiative is designed to ensure that there is an improved mental health admission assessment system for ward 12B at the Woden Valley Hospital.
There are a couple of options being developed in relation to that. The first option being considered is improving the availability of medical staff to ensure prompt psychiatric assessment and management. The second option is the provision of an after-hours on-call service staffed by a nurse based at ward 12B, Woden Valley Hospital. As part of the development I will be exploring the capacity that this service will have to meet the needs of people experiencing mental illness and their carers and relatives.
Another important service, which is one about which I think you are particularly concerned, is the improved secure care for the psychiatrically ill. This was developed, as was the other proposal that I have just mentioned, as a result of the Government's budget consultation process.
Providing adequate medical care for the psychiatrically ill is a complex task, as we all know. For those who are alleged to have committed criminal or antisocial acts, the complexities are even greater. Our major population centres can address these complexities by setting up psychiatric units within prison hospitals, but the ACT is not in that position. So we have the choice of providing a secure arrangement at Woden Valley Hospital or at the Belconnen Remand Centre. The issue which has to be addressed is whether it is appropriate to have those sorts of facilities in the Woden Hospital because the hospital would suffer from the intrusion of security arrangements and custodial staff into ward 12B. It is felt that that would have a detrimental effect on the patients.
The Government favours the provision of a facility at the Belconnen Remand Centre, and the use of this facility acknowledges that the people in question have been directed to us by the courts because of their behaviour and the risk of further antisocial behaviour. To set up the new program, some modification to the building will be
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .