Wyndham Clinic Private Hospital has unveiled an adolescent mental health unit as part of its multimillion-dollar expansion.
The 12-bed young people’s mental health service opened on Monday and is only the second of its kind in the state. It offers 15- to 21-year-olds in-patient mental health services provided by a team of psychiatrists, nurses, occupational therapists and social workers.
Wyndham Clinic chief executive Peter Bailey said there was a lack of mental health services for young people in the west, and the new unit would help an extra 250 patients each year.
“There’s a huge unmet need,” he said. “Patients who want to go into an adolescent unit experience extremely long wait times, just because of the lack of bed numbers.
“While Melbourne’s west has the most developed public sector youth mental health system in Australia, resources are still stretched due to population growth and an increased need for care, so there are substantial gaps and long delays in access to specialised youth mental health care.”
Patrick McGorry, executive director of the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, said the clinic was timely, necessary and welcome.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing a growing need with our young people,” Professor McGorry said. “Mental health is the number one issue affecting this age group throughout the world, and Australia is no different.”
Wyndham Clinic has also just opened a 10-bed drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit and will soon introduce a new treatment: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
TMS uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression and other psychiatric disorders.
