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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-04-03 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:17): I move:

That the 121st report of the Public Works Committee, entitled Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre, be noted.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing (SA Health) propose to deliver a multipurpose two-level facility to expand mental health service capability and capacity for the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network by supporting improved hospital capacity and helping to address the growing demand for community mental health services in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

This local health network is the second largest in the state with a resident population of approximately 400,000, equating to 32 per cent of metropolitan Adelaide's population, with this figure expected to grow further by 2030. It contains the highest percentage of the most vulnerable residents, at 61 per cent, in comparison to the rest of the state, at 32 percent. It also contains higher percentages of people experiencing psychological distress in comparison to the rest of the state.

In 2022, the introduction of a mental health and suicide prevention bilateral agreement between the commonwealth and state governments outlined the commitment for the state government to fully fund the establishment of a new crisis stabilisation centre to be co-located with a commonwealth-funded Head to Health centre.

The Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre will aim to provide a wide range of services for mental healthcare consumers in northern Adelaide. Located in the suburb of Elizabeth South, it will also take statewide admissions. The integrated service will deliver a 12-chair assessment area within a mental health-focused, calming and therapeutic environment. This assessment area will be supported by a 16-bed inpatient unit for short-term admissions, supporting stabilisation and establishing connections between consumers and social services as well as community mental health programs.

In May last year it was announced that both services within the stabilisation centre will be commissioned to non-government organisations. The commonwealth government has engaged the service provider Sonder for the Northern Adelaide Head to Health, while the provider for the 16-bed inpatient unit at the time of this hearing was yet to be tendered.

The Mental Health Services Plan, developed by the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist South Australia and the SA Mental Health Commission, demonstrates the necessity of a crisis response model that incorporates alternative pathways to accessing mental health support, avoiding emergency department presentations, and connects users to mental health crisis supported care. In support of these aims, the crisis centre aims to:

offer a place of rest and recovery in times of distress, integrating existing services provided by the local health network and the community;

provide opportunities to evaluate acute inpatient bed pathways and direct admission pathways that would improve service capacity;

reduce the reliance on emergency departments as the admission pathway to mental health services;

decrease the number of mental health-related walk-ins;

improve the mental health flow for acute inpatient services via reducing crisis presentations; and

facilitate community-based assessment of mental health consumers, as well as direct entry to inpatient services when required.

SA Health has prepared the project brief for the crisis centre in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist, and it will be delivered by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT). The facility will be built at Lot 4711 Oldham Road, Elizabeth South, on land compulsorily acquired from the City of Playford.

The ground floor will house the walk-in support service and the floor space will include eight consulting rooms; one emergency counselling room; one family counselling room; one group room for up to eight people; a staff break room, lounge room and kitchen; reception and waiting areas; staff shared offices, work area and quiet rooms; a utility room and building plant; bathrooms, showers, and a cleaner's room; a lift; and an outdoor staff area and courtyard space.

The 16-bed short-stay facility, located on the first floor, is available to consumers for up to three nights. The facility's functional spaces include: 16 bedrooms with ensuites, including two accessible rooms; four sub lounges; a communal lounge area; consumer kitchen and dining room areas; a consumer balcony overlooking an adjacent park; circulation areas; two counselling rooms; a family lounge room; a communal laundry; and back-of-house facilities, including a staff kitchen, utility rooms, cleaner's room, bathroom and storeroom.

By working with consumers as partners in their own care, this project supports the local health network's Clinical Services Plan by enhancing the focus on early intervention, prevention and promotion, and increasing service partnerships and integration. Upon completion, it will improve the capacity of acute mental health beds, mental health bed flow and decrease the number of mental health related emergency department presentations. The project will cost $20.4 million drawn from funds committed in the 2021-22 state budget. Construction commenced in January of this year with completion anticipated in March next year.

The delivery of the project will follow best practice procurement and management as advocated by the state government and construction industry authorities. DIT is managing the process of engaging the construction contractor and has developed a tailored procurement plan. Upon completion, the design will be tendered to a select panel of building contractors to deliver the project. An integrated management team has been established to monitor the project, and the project team is managing risk in conjunction with DIT.

The team has established formal processes to ensure that sustainability issues are considered throughout the project life cycle, with initiatives including provisions for adapting to future technologies with the potential for electric vehicle charging; maximisation of energy efficiency, including the installation of solar energy systems; selection of efficient water fixtures; selection of durable and ethical sourced materials; minimisation of emissions; and the hiring of a sustainability advocate consultant.

The central archive has identified no record of Aboriginal sites in the proposed works' location and SA Health states the project will have no impacts on commonwealth, state or local heritage-listed places.

The project is in ongoing consultation with clinical and non-clinical staff, consumer reference groups and industrial bodies. The management team has undertaken various reviews with relevant stakeholders within SA Health, Sonder and the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, focusing on specific project requirements. Throughout project implementation, the local health network and the department's media and communications unit will manage the required external communication, media inquiries and press releases.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Melissa Nozza, Director, Capital Projects, Infrastructure, Department for Health and Wellbeing; Peter Tynan, Director, Greenway Architects; John Jenner, Portfolio Manager, Health Infrastructure Delivery, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Darren Golley, Director, Capital Program Delivery Unit, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network. I thank the witnesses for their time.

Based upon the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Motion carried.

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