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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-28 Daily Xml
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Dementia Care Facilities

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse questions in relation to accommodation for people with extreme BPSD.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In his report into the older persons mental health facility at Oakden, then chief psychiatrist, Dr Aaron Groves, noted that the level of care needed to support people with tier 7 BPSD—that is, extreme behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia—far exceeds the level of care able to be provided by dementia-specific nursing homes. According to Dr Groves, at the time of his review there were at least 20 people with tier 7 BPSD in South Australia, 14 of whom were living at Oakden. The remainder were in public hospital mental health wards and dementia-specific aged-care facilities where Dr Groves noted their presence has a significant disruptive impact on other residents.

Four months after finalising his report, Dr Groves told a parliamentary inquiry that the number of people with tier 7 BPSD stuck in our general hospitals may have risen to about eight. Last week, the CEO of the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, Ms Jackie Hanson, told a Senate inquiry that no new residents have been accepted into Oakden or Northgate since the beginning of the year. Therefore, one can only assume that there are still eight people with BPSD stuck in our general hospitals. My questions to the minister are:

1. How many people with tier 7 BPSD are currently being accommodated in SA Health general hospitals?

2. When does the minister expect the moratorium on new residents being accepted into Northgate will be lifted?

3. In the meantime, can the minister assure the council that patients with tier 7 BPSD are not being inappropriately housed long term in public hospital wards?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:45): Thank you to the honourable member for his important question. The Oakden experience has undoubtedly been tragic. This is one of the most unacceptable cases that has occurred in recent South Australian history in respect to care for older people, and that has been widely acknowledged. It is very important that whoever is in the position that I am now privileged to hold devote themselves to ensuring we do whatever we can to prevent such an instance from happening again. One of the ways that the government is seeking to achieve that objective is, of course, to respond to the SA Health Oakden Response Plan that was established some time ago, back in June this year.

The SA Health Oakden Response Plan Oversight Committee was established to provide oversight and guidance in implementing the six recommendations that were made in the Chief Psychiatrist's report. There were a number of recommendations—six—and we set up six distinct and interrelated expert working groups. These have been established to implement each of the recommendations. An expert working group has been working on the development of a proposed model of care for people with very severe to extreme behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, and, of course, enduring mental illness.

The model of care is in the final stages of its development and a scoping study is underway to determine the site and design of the brand-new $14.7 million facility. In respect to some of those recommendations that came out of the Oakden report for people with extreme BPSD or tier 7 BPSD, the development of a 24-bed, single-site neurobehavioural clinic as the centre of excellence for subacute care was recommended. That's something we are getting on with in developing and pursuing. In respect to the Hon. Mr Wade's specific question around numbers, I am happy to take that question on notice and try to get that information as quickly as possible.

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