Wednesday, September 10, 2008

North East mental health in question

Source: Wangaratta Chronicle - 10.09.08

MENTAL health services in the North East were called into question with the release of performance indictors by the state’s opposition last week.

But Northeast Health Wangaratta has dismissed the data as misleading and as not taking into account the full spectrum of Wangaratta’s psychiatric unit, Kerferd clinic.

Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Mary Wooldridge, said mental health key performance indictors for the second quarter in 2007/08 at Northeast Health Wangaratta show:

• 52 per cent of mental health patients fail to receive care in the community before entering hospital, which is the highest rate in country Victoria; and

• 33 per cent of patients fail to get care in the community after leaving hospital, which is well above the rural average of 24 per cent.

Ms Wooldridge said the figures indicated the State Government was failing to reform and invest in public mental health services and this was having "serious consequences" for people in the North East living with a mental illness.

"Because of these massive gaps in the mental health system, people are failing to get care at all stages of their illness before, during and after an episode," she said.

"This has serious consequences for the community, including poorer health outcomes, family breakdowns and as recently revealed, it can result in homelessness."

But Wangaratta mental health area manager, Michael Nuck, said Ms Wooldridge had based her argument on inaccurate data, which does not acknowledge that Kerferd Clinic is also utilised by the Wodonga Mental Health Service.

While Wodonga patients admitted to Kerferd are recorded by the Wangaratta health system, their pre and post-admission care is documented in their hometown.

"The pre-Kerferd admissions from Wodonga clients, which is about 180 a year, is captured by the Wodonga information system," Mr Knuck said.

"So it looks like they haven’t had any community contact before they are admitted, and the same thing occurs when they exit."

The key performance indicators also revealed 18 per cent of mental health patients were re-admitted, unplanned, within a month.

Mr Knuck conceded readmission rates did climb in the period from which the data was taken, but the health service reacted quickly to rectify the issue.

"Historically, Northeast Health has had the lowest readmission rate in the state," he said.

"We did have a blip in the readmission rates in the quarter that (Ms Wooldridge) is talking about... but we reviewed some of our practices and we’re back to below five per cent."

While acknowledging there were issues with rurality, distance and attracting skilled clinicians, Mr Knuck said local residents should have confidence in local mental health services.

"Do we want more money in the system? Yes, it goes without saying," he said.

"But our service is healthy and progressive, there’s some innovative work happening, and it’s been acknowledged state and federally."

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