A DOZEN mental health patients a week are waiting more than eight hours in the emergency department for admission to Sunshine Hospital, according to state government figures.
More than 2000 people presented to the department between July last year and April with a mental health or drug and alcohol issue.
More than 550 of them required hospital admission.
Victorian Health Service performance data shows that from October-December, 141 people waited at the hospital for eight or more hours – a 14per cent rise over the previous three months.
State opposition mental health spokesman Wade Noonan said the figures showed there were not enough acute beds for the number of mentally ill people in Melbourne’s west.
“Anyone who works in an emergency department will tell you that patients with a mental illness are the most complex and resource-intensive to assist,” he said.
A Monash University-Victoria Police study has found police apprehend a mentally disturbed person on average every two hours. Many have threatened or attempted suicide or other self-harm and most are taken to a hospital emergency department.
The study showed 4798 such patients were taken to hospital by police between December 2009 and November 2010.
Western Health chief executive Kathryn Cook said servicing the western suburbs, the fastest-growing population area in Australia, was having “a huge impact” on demand.
“Both Sunshine and Western hospitals continue to experience a high demand for emergency department services,” she said.
“We continue to identify ways in which the number of patients presenting to our emergency departments [who are] admitted to a ward within eight hours can be improved.”
Mental health at Sunshine Hospital is under the control of NorthWestern Mental Health, an arm of Melbourne Health. A spokeswoman said the region had relatively high social disadvantage, reflected in poor health status and an increased demand on public health.
