Mental Health Services

130 The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (19 March 2019).

1. How often does a psychiatrist visit Mount Gambier Hospital (South East Integrated Mental Health Inpatient Unit and Community Services) from SA Health?

2. How many mental health patients exist in Mount Gambier?

3. What is the standard waiting time for patients to see a psychiatrist?

4. What is the current staffing profile of the Mental Health Inpatient Unit at the Mount Gambier

Hospital?

5. Do any staff vacancies exist with the Mental Health Inpatient Unit at the Mount Gambier Hospital?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing): I have been advised:

1. There is a resident psychiatrist working Monday to Friday in the Mount Gambier Hospital. In addition, Country Health SA Local Health Network (Country Health) provide visiting psychiatrists for a total of 10 days per month to the South-East region.

2. There are currently 283 Mount Gambier consumers receiving a service from the Country Health Mental Health Services in the South-East region.

3. All referrals to see a Country Health psychiatrist are triaged and prioritised based on their level of urgency. Urgent referrals can be seen on the same day. Non-urgent referrals from general practitioners to provide a second opinion can wait up to a maximum of three months.

4. The current staffing profile at the Integrated Mental Health Inpatient Unit at the Mount Gambier Hospital is 1.0 full time equivalent (FTE) consultant psychiatrist, 1.0 FTE psychiatric registrar, 6.8 FTE registered nurses, 2.0 FTE enrolled nurses, 1.4 FTE support workers, 0.2 FTE Aboriginal cultural worker, and 0.2 FTE peer support worker.

5. There is currently a 1.0 FTE registered nurse vacancy in the Integrated Mental Health Inpatient Unit which has been advertised and is currently being backfilled through the use of agency staff.