MENTAL health patients in Melbourne’s west, including those from Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, are languishing in waiting rooms with one in three waiting more than eight hours to receive care at Sunshine Hospital.
The June quarter performance figures released by the state government earlier this month reveal 115 mental health patients had to wait eight or more hours before being admitted to the hospital.
This was up from 96 in the previous quarter and up more than 30 per cent on the same time last year.
Sunshine Hospital, responsible for a catchment including Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, had the longest waiting times for mental health treatment and hospital admissions in Victoria.
Werribee Mercy Hospital had the next longest, with 73 patients waiting longer than eight hours, followed by Royal Melbourne, with 64 patients.
Williamstown Labor MP Wade Noonan said the figures revealed that $500 million cuts to the health system by the state government were having a devastating impact.
“Leaving mentally ill patients languishing in emergency departments is simply not good enough.”
Melbourne Health is responsible for mental health care in the western suburbs.
A Melbourne Health spokeswoman said demand for services had increased. She said mental health patients might also have physical injuries and substance abuse issues which needed to be treated before they could be admitted for psychiatric care.
Four new mental health beds and additional staff will be added at Sunshine Hospital early next year.
A Health Department spokeswoman said the opening of the beds, with the appointment of a state mental health bed co-ordinator, was expected to improve access and reduce waiting times.
