Page 1231 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: My understanding is that none were. I think that is what Ms McDonald said in her interviews in relation to this matter when the story was first reported. If I am incorrect on that matter, I will come back to the Assembly. I do want to emphasise that Bernadette McDonald, the CEO of Canberra Health Services, was very clear, in her interviews in relation to this matter, that there was absolutely no risk to patient safety in relation to this matter. I reject any implication by the opposition that that was not the case.
Mental health—acute care capacity
MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Among many very worrying issues in relation to mental health in the ACT that have emerged during your time as minister—which include the adult mental health unit operating at or over capacity; being understaffed; the disturbing allegations reported by the ABC on 13 May this year; and the Human Rights Commission’s concern that the ACT’s mental health system is like a revolving door that endangers patients’ health—why would a mental health patient who had attempted suicide first be admitted to a general ward in the Canberra Hospital and then accommodated in the adult mental health unit for several weeks in a room without even a working lock? How is that an acceptable outcome?
MR RATTENBURY: There was quite a lot in Mr Wall’s question. Of course, with Mrs Dunne’s motion we will discuss a lot of that later this afternoon. In terms of the specific question, there was an error in the maintenance call related to that broken lock and Canberra Health Services has apologised to the patient involved. That lock should have been fixed sooner.
MR WALL: By way of another example, why would the ACT’s mental health system have by far the worst statistics in Australia for how patients feel about whether their condition had improved or not after being discharged from our adult mental health unit?
MR RATTENBURY: That is a challenging question. Firstly, we need to take on board the fact that that is people’s experience. We should not shy away from the fact that that is the feedback. Equally, we need to reflect on the circumstances in which some people are taken to the adult mental health unit. There are a significant number of people who are there on an emergency detention, which means that they have been taken there not of their free will. In that context people are not likely to want to be there and that will undoubtedly flavour, for some people, how they feel about their experience.
The other point to reflect on is that compared to other jurisdictions there is detailed analysis around the acuity of the beds involved. In other jurisdictions there are larger numbers of facilities that are private mental health hospitals, for example, with lower acuity patients who have less severe conditions. So this also goes to the data.
There is a long and detailed discussion behind this data, but I do not shy away from the fact—this is why we created a mental health portfolio—that we have
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