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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-31 Daily Xml
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Oakden Mental Health Facility

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:56): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Monday 10 April 2017 was a dark day in this state's history. With the delivery of Dr Aaron Groves' Oakden Report we learnt that older South Australians with complex mental illness had been failed by the very system that was supposed to care for them.

The Marshall Liberal government has today released two reports that will pave the way for a new and improved way of caring for some of South Australia's most vulnerable older people. The Oakden oversight committee report and SA Health's response will help to ensure the systematic failings exposed at Oakden will never be repeated.

I would like to thank everyone who has been on this collaborative, co-designed journey to improve the experiences of and outcomes for older people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia or mental illness. This includes the families who initially raised their concerns, the former chief psychiatrist, the Principal Community Visitor and more recently Dr Tom Stubbs, chair of the oversight committee, Dr Duncan McKellar, head of the Older Persons Mental Health Service and the many people who have contributed to the expert working groups, particularly those with lived experience.

The reports provide a roadmap for the future care and management of older people with significant dementia or complex mental health needs. Under the leadership of the oversight committee, six expert working groups have spent almost 12 months exploring how to implement the former chief psychiatrist Oakden Report recommendations and planning for a new service that treats older people with dignity and respect.

Significant improvements have already been made, including the commissioning of Northgate House and planning for the development of a statewide neurobehavioural unit. While the state government supports the recommendations of 24 beds for extreme dementia, this may be in a single facility or two smaller specialist facilities, with the locations yet to be determined. We are committed to establishing a new unit but rather than focusing solely on a single service at Modbury Hospital proposed by the infrastructure/facility expert working group we are now looking into options of establishing the service on the site of the former Repatriation General Hospital.

At the time of the Oaken oversight committee deliberations the Repat was not considered because it was under contract for sale, but that contract has since been terminated. There are challenges with the Modbury option and opportunities at both the Repat and Northgate sites. Building a new older persons mental health facility for people with extreme behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia will be explored as part of the community and staff consultation in the development of the master plan for the Repat site. We will also investigate the need for further hubs as the projected demand for beds for the management of BPSD grow, and to meet the needs of people with enduring mental illness.

To address the range of issues raised in the report SA Health will now develop a detailed implementation plan. The Oakden Response Implementation Plan will outline the steps required to deliver improved models of care, optimum staffing models and suitable infrastructure for this specific cohort of vulnerable people.

We have already made significant improvements since the former chief psychiatrist's initial review into Oakden. Reforms already in place include a new approach to the delivery of care at Northgate House ensuring the care team work collaboratively with each family so that residents get the personalised care they need and deserve. I have recently tabled legislation to protect vulnerable adults.

The Oakden Response Implementation Plan will have the oversight of senior executives in SA Health, including the chief executive and Chief Psychiatrist, and updates will be publicly reported every six months. The Oakden oversight committee report and SA Health's response are available on the SA Health website, www.sahealth.sa.gov.au.

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