MENTAL health patients at Werribee Mercy Hospital are being forced to wait more than eight hours for a bed as average emergency department treatment times continue to exceed the state average.
Between January and March, 72 mental health patients waited in the emergency department for more than eight hours while beds were found at Werribee Mercy or other hospitals.
Only Sunshine Hospital had more patients (96) waiting longer than eight hours for beds.
The state government recommends that hospitals transfer mental health patients to a ward bed within eight hours of their admittance to an emergency department.
Mercy’s executive director, Linda Mellors, said Wyndham’s population growth was to blame for the delay.
“Werribee Mercy Hospital is caring for a rapidly growing population with increasing demand for local mental health services,” she said.
“This high demand for psychiatric care means that Mercy mental health beds operate at full occupancy.”
Since June 2011, waiting times for mental health beds at Werribee Mercy have increased 46per cent.
Opposition mental health parliamentary secretary Wade Noonan said the data suggested the hospital was struggling to keep up with demand. “This data shows that the Mercy Hospital in Werribee is finding it increasingly difficult to assist people who require treatment for a mental illness.”
Dr Mellors said the hospital was trying to address the demand for mental health beds by running a program which supported early discharge and at-home care. The program was designed to reduce numbers presenting to the emergency department.
The government is providing the hospital with $6million over four years to improve access to community-based treatments and reduce the number of mental health patients admitted to hospital. Mental health patients were not the only people kept waiting, with average emergency department treatment times 21 minutes between January and March. The state average was 19 minutes. There were also delays in admitting emergency patients to hospital beds, with 69per cent of patients transferred within eight hours. The state benchmark is 80per cent.
Dr Mellors said the emergency department strived to see patients as soon as possible. But the hospital’s priority was always to attend to patients assessed as having the greatest need of medical care. She said average treatment waiting times for category one, two and three patients were below the state average.
