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Mental health

Posted By beidjd55

"Mental health"

About: Joondalup Health Campus / Primary care mental health

(as the patient),

Got admitted to the mental health observation unit for 5 days early last year. I wanted to go in as a private patient and this wasn’t offered to me. I also believe I wasn’t ready to leave the facility due to the fact I was taking Prozac and that affected me badly. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t function and my work suffered as a result. Then my care was given back to the GP.

This facility is one of the best in WA and if I couldn’t be there longer than 5 days, I believe I should have been moved somewhere else. 

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Responses

Response from Dr Martin Chapman, Acting Head of Service - Mental Health; Deputy Director of Medical Services, Joondalup Health Campus 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Dr Martin Chapman
Acting Head of Service - Mental Health; Deputy Director of Medical Services,
Joondalup Health Campus

Consultant Psychiatrist

Submitted on 16/06/2020 at 11:15 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 11:38 AM

Dear beidjd55,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Care Opinion regarding your admission to the Mental Health Observation Area (MHOA) at Joondalup Health Campus (JHC) and concerns that you feel you should have been admitted to the Mental Health Unit. We are sorry to read of your health concerns last year that necessitated admission to the MHOA for review and treatment.

While we are not able to provide feedback regarding the concerns you have raised about your own admission, we can provide the following information.

At JHC the MHOA is part of the Emergency Department (ED) and is an area identified for mental health assessments. However, patients are still admitted to the ED stream because MHOA is part of the main ED.

If it is deemed after review that a patient requires a longer admission, then a bed request is made to the Mental Health Unit (MHU) at JHC so a bed can be sourced.

There may be occasions when a patient in the MHOA does not require MHU admission as other care options available in the community, for example, Hospital In The Home (HITH), community teams, and GP care may be more appropriate.

As we are aware, the WA public mental health system is under considerable pressure due to increasing public need. In response to this, a range of initiatives have been launched across the system to try and address these issues and the State has announced the development and expansion of mental health services in the North Metropolitan region.

A key part of this development will be a new 77-bed MHU at Joondalup Health Campus that will significantly improve local community access and decrease the pressure on acute mental health beds in the region.

If you would like to discuss your specific admission concerns further, please contact our consumer liaison office on 08 9400 9672 or email consumerliaison.jhc@ramsayhealth.com.au and our liaison officers will make the necessary arrangements.

Thank you again for providing your feedback to Care Opinion which has given us the opportunity to review your concerns and provide further information which we hope will be helpful to you.

We trust that you are receiving good support from your GP and wish you well on your journey to improved health and wellbeing.

Yours sincerely

Dr Martin Chapman

Head of Services – Mental Health

Joondalup Health Campus

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