Lack of mental health services draws criticism

The State Government has again come under fire for the lack of vital on-the-ground mental health services in the Capes region. A six-bed mental health observation area was scheduled to open in Bunbury next year, and this month’s funding boost included $1.7 million to progress restraint-related facilities at WA’s acute psychiatric units, one of which is also based in Bunbury. Vasse MLA and Opposition health spokesperson Libby Mettam said cracks in the system were already showing in the workload of psychiatric liaison nurses at Busselton Health Campus. Part-time nurses job-shared the role designed to help people turning up to emergency with mental health-related concerns, but the capacity barely met Busselton’s needs, let alone those of the wider region, Ms Mettam said. And across the WA Country Health Service, those pressures were showing up in a huge jump in claimed sick days, with an extra 10,000 days recorded this year compared with 2019-20, she said. WACHS regional director Kerry Winsor said psychiatric nurses as well as telehealth were available to anyone presenting at Busselton. “In addition to support available through the emergency department, WACHS also has an acute mental health inpatient unit for adults at Bunbury Regional Hospital,” she said. Other Mental Health Commission-funded services operated out of Bunbury for the wider South West, she said. Services including outreach for Aboriginal people, men’s mental health, eating disorders, self-harm in schools, youth mental health and peer support weekend workshops for LGBTIQ+ youth were identified. The WA Primary Health Alliance also funded a “Youth Severe Program” in Busselton working with GPs, headspace and other community services, Ms Winsor said. A review by the Times showed outreach services often failed to penetrate much further south and were reliant on residents travelling north. The Mental Health Commission said “Gatekeeper” program training to help service providers with suicide prevention backed up existing Community Mental Health Services based in Bunbury and Busselton, with visiting days in Margaret River. A suicide postvention co-ordinator role at Bunbury’s St John of God Hospital, established by not-for-profit group AccordWest, remained in limbo, with no funding commitment beyond year’s end. Lifeline 13 11 14