The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) said both parties must offer a range of mental health investments that respond to both non-acute and acute mental health needs.
RANZCP SA Branch Chair Dr Paul Furst said, “I am sure that everyone involved in mental health policy genuinely wants to solve the problems with the system. However, it’s incredibly frustrating when the parties don’t listen to the experts on how to fix it.”
“There is a common misconception that more community-based services for people experiencing mild-to moderate mental distress will reduce emergency presentations and demand for inpatient care when there is no local evidence that is the case.
“The Urgent Mental Heath Care Centre (UMHCC) is providing an important choice for mental health consumers who prefer not to attend EDs, but there has been no evaluation of the UMHCC and what impact it has had on the performance of the mental health system, so the claim that more of the same will reduce demand in our EDs is completely baseless. We need places like the UMHCC to offer consumers choice, but we must also have inpatient beds with a focus on true rehabilitation and recovery for those who need it.
“Our current mental health system is completely geared towards revolving door crisis responses, without offering people with serious and enduring mental illness a chance to recover and enjoy a better life.
“Labor has promised 98 specialised mental health beds. We need the Liberal party to start listening to the experts and those with a whole of system view on how mental health care is delivered and also announce more mental health beds.”
ACEM SA Faculty Chair Dr Michael Edmonds said, “South Australians experiencing serious mental health issues are getting stranded in noisy, overcrowded EDs for days on end waiting for an appropriate bed to become available. We simply do not have enough specialised mental health beds to service our community."
"This isn’t normal. This isn’t safe – not for the person experiencing mental health issues, not for burnt-out staff and not for other patients who experience delays in their care. It can be fixed.
“SA’s emergency physicians don’t want bigger EDs. We need EDs that function, and that means increasing inpatient and mental health bed capacity so we can move people in serious distress into a place that can meet their needs – freeing up our EDs to provide care to more people in need of acute care.”
"While the Liberal announcements for additional hospital beds are welcomed, they are not enough to address the needs of the South Australian community, nor to fix ramping.
“We don’t want to hear blame for why the system is in the deplorable state that it is – the past is in the past. Now is the time to focus on the future and on solutions in order to ensure every South Australian recieves the care they need, when they need it.
“We urge voters to listen to the health experts and what we believe our broken system so desperately needs. South Australia, this is your health system – and you deserve better.”
Media enquiries:
For more information or to arrange interviews call Andy Newton, RANZCP Senior Manager, Communications on +0411 261 969, Melissa Howard, ACEM Media Relations Manager, on +0427 621 857, or email [email protected] or [email protected].
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists prepares medical specialists in the field of psychiatry, supports and enhances clinical practice, advocates for people affected by mental illness and advises governments and other groups on mental health care. For information about our work, our members or our history, visit www.ranzcp.org.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine is the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand, responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards. www.acem.org.au
If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au or the Suicide Callback Service on 1300 659 467 or www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au.
Additional information
The RANZCP/ACEM are calling for the parties contesting the election to:
- Commit South Australia’s health system to benchmark itself against the national average of bed numbers and increase our stock in line with that benchmark. With current numbers, that represents:
- At least 200 general medical beds, plus
- At least 145 non-acute* mental health beds.
- Commit to increasing the public mental health workforce (psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, allied health professionals and peer workers) to service that increased capacity.
- Immediately address vacancies and shortages of staff in community mental health services to provide acute crisis care and support people to remain well in the community.
- Implement immediate strategies to increase the supply of mental health professionals. High demand and long training times mean professional bodies must be engaged in this process.
- Implement Hospital Access Targets, including mandatory reporting of excessive waiting times for mental health patients in Emergency Departments (EDs).
- >12 hours reported to the Chief Executive, >24 hours reported to the Minister
- Report these benchmarks publicly on a monthly basis, to track the real-world impact of changes in the system.
* Non-acute beds represent the ‘middle ground’ between acute beds used for people in immediate crisis, and residential rehabilitation or support in the community.
How does South Australia compare?
- The OECD average is 65 mental health beds/100,000 people.
- The ACEM national recommendation is 60 mental health beds/100,000 people.
- The Australian national average is 41 mental health beds/100,000.
- South Australia has 32 mental health beds/100,000 people.
In SA, approximately 1 in 25 people who seek care in ED do so because of acute mental health issues, yet they comprise a third of patients who wait longer than eight hours for an inpatient bed.