ONE in three mental health patients is waiting more than eight hours to receive care at Sunshine Hospital.
June quarter performance data released earlier this month reveals 115 mental health patients had to wait eight or more hours before being admitted. This was up from 96 in the previous quarter and more than 30 per cent from the same time last year.
Sunshine had the longest waiting times for mental health treatment and hospital admissions in Victoria. Werribee Mercy Hospital was second, with 73 patients waiting longer than eight hours, followed by the Royal Melbourne (64).
Williamstown Labor MP Wade Noonan said the figures revealed that $500 million cuts to the state’s health system were having a devastating impact. “Leaving mentally ill patients languishing in emergency departments is simply not good enough.”
A Melbourne Health spokeswoman said demand for services had increased. She said mental health patients may also have physical injuries and substance abuse issues which needed to be treated before they could be admitted for psychiatric care.
Four new mental health beds and additional staff will be added at Sunshine Hospital in early 2013.
A Health Department spokeswoman said the opening of the beds, with the appointment of a state mental health bed co-ordinator, was expected to improve access and reduce waiting times.
