New South Wales`s mental health and emergency departments will face stricter standards and mandatory public reporting systems to reduce the alarming rate of mental isolation or physical restriction.
Director of the Department of Mental Health, Miss Tan. Davis (Tanya Davies) and Department of Health Director Brad. Hazard (Brad Hazzard) will release an implementation plan Friday aimed at removing potentially traumatic restrictions on some of the states` most vulnerable patients.
Under the plan, hospitals are expected to reduce the number of isolation patients to less than 5.1 times every 1000 days-25 percent lower than current standards.
The hospital must also ensure that the average isolation time is less than 4 hours per time, and managers must conduct on-site supervision of all in-patient ward units, including visiting ward units during each shift.
These measures are in line with the recommendations formulated through the independent review. The recommendation details deep-rooted discrimination, insults, management patterns similar to those of prisoners and the use of punitive restrictions by some mental health services. The advice describes patients "trapped" in isolation rooms, not allowed to use bathrooms, or even allowed to breathe fresh air.
The state government ordered an investigation into the use of restrictive measures against patients by mental health services after a surveillance video showed a patient in base Hospital in Lismoire being forcibly quarantined.
The video shows the patient naked, anesthetized, unable to tell the direction and covered with excrement. A few hours later, Merton died of traumatic hypoxic brain damage on June 3, 2014, when he fell to the hard surface of his head in an isolated room.
Davis says the tragedy is a catalyst for the change.
"now we have a plan aimed at greatly improving the safety of patients with mental illness and better supporting medical personnel." She said.
Under the new plan, all mental health services and emergency departments are required to collect and publicly report patient isolation and restriction data on a quarterly basis and incorporate them into the annual performance of local health areas.
"We want to ensure that everyone in the region knows exactly what`s going on in the in-patient wards so that we can respond appropriately and provide support and help where needed." Davis said.
She says managers whose departments have repeatedly failed to meet the standards could be dismissed.
Between 2016 and 2017, nearly 3700 patients in New South Wales were quarantined or restricted. About 2200 people were quarantined for an average of five and a half hours. These figures do not include patients who are quarantined in the emergency department of a hospital.
In December, the state government invested 20 million yuan in funding hospital managers to improve the treatment environment and launched a further review of the ED safe room.
The plan also includes setting minimum training standards for employees and regularly involving families and patients in treatment.
The program aims to support hospital staff, patients and families. Everyone needs to be involved to change the state of the state`s mental health department. " Davis said.
