Fewer beds, longer waits for mental health patients in NSW

NSW public hospitals have fewer specialist mental health beds than five years ago, despite a rise in mental health presentations to emergency departments and patients are waiting longer to be seen, a new report by the Australian Medical Association has found.

The Public Hospital Report Card: Mental Health Edition also shows more patients with mental health-related conditions are arriving at emergency departments by ambulance or police services, and more are arriving in a critical condition needing urgent care.

In NSW, there was a reduction of 150 mental health beds in public hospitals between 2016-2017 and 2021-2022, down from 2768 to 2618.

NSW mental health patients are also waiting longer to be seen, with urgent cases (those needing to be seen within 30 minutes) rising from a 40 per cent share of total mental health-related ED presentations to 50 per cent. Those needing to be seen within 10 minutes rose from 11 per cent to18 per cent over the same period.

“Public hospitals are under enormous strain as demand continues to grow,” AMA (NSW) president Dr Kathryn Austin said.

“But we know that long waits in bright, busy, noisy emergency departments can be incredibly distressing for mental health patients, and that many emergency departments are not physically designed to ensure the safety of patients experiencing acute suicidal ideation.”

The logjam of patients awaiting mental health beds was also contributing to longer waiting times for all patients in emergency departments, she said.

“The NSW Government urgently needs a genuine and comprehensive gap analysis and a comprehensive plan to attract and retain mental health staff, including doctors. We also need greater investment in primary care which includes higher levels of bulk billing, and we need the government to come to the table on addressing the working conditions of Visiting Medical Officers to ensure they remain in the public system,” she said.

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