Report Highlights Mental Illness Challenge

The NSW Government's report on incident management in public hospitals shows that mental illness continues to be a major area of weakness in the state's health system, doctors in the public health system said today.

Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation executive director Peter Somerville said that a high proportion of serious incidents recorded in the report were suspected suicides by mental health patients in hospitals and in the community.

"What the report highlights is the human cost of when system failures let down the mentally ill.

"This is an issue that ASMOF members have campaigned strongly about along with other workers in the health system through the Mental Health Workers Alliance."

"Working through the Alliance these workers are pushing for better resourcing for the mental health sector, improved staffing levels, and increased capacity to care for some of our most vulnerable members of the community.

"It's now time for the NSW Government to listen to the workers at the front line of mental health and make the improvements necessary to turn this situation around."

Mr Somerville said that aside from the mental health deaths the results of the report were largely positive showing that NSW compared well on a per capita basis with other systems.

"The report shows that doctors are overwhelmingly doing a good job but must remain vigilant that the quality of health care continues to improve.

"ASMOF would like to congratulate NSW Health on the practical approach they have taken in producing this report."

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