The South Australia Chief Psychiatrist will approve an intervention plan to monitor the quality and safety of the mental health service provided by the Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service.
The Chief Psychiatrist, Dr John Brayley, yesterday announced he had placed a gazettal condition on the service, following a routine inspection in April.
He said the inspection identified issues relating to the management of at-risk patients who leave the emergency department.
There were also issues relating to the current reliance of police assistance to manage patient behaviours, the reporting of incidents, and facility concerns about the duress system.
Dr Brayley said they were "system issues".
Dr Brayley said the conditions were intended to improve the provided service and increase safety for both the community and staff.
The temporary gazettal condition will be lifted when the intervention plan has been "substantially completed."
The Limestone Coast Local Health Network said it was working closely with the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist (OCP) to improve mental health services provided by the Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service.
"A plan has been developed to address all concerns raised by OCP," it said.
The Limestone Coast Local Health Network said its "service will continue to progress work on this plan and identify ongoing improvements to the service for our mental health consumers".
'Very concerning'
South Australia's Shadow Health Minister Chris Picton said requiring an intervention order was "a very serious step".
"If that [intervention order] is not complied with, then that removes the ability for the hospital to be accredited to see those types of patients, which would obviously be devastating if that wasn't in place in the future," Mr Picton said.
He said the issues raised by the Chief Psychiatrist were not new revelations.
"The issues that have been identified have been issues that the community in Mount Gambier… have been talking about for a number of years now," he said.
"People going through the Emergency Department there and the safety of them is clearly a risk and that clearly hasn't improved."
Staff safety a concern
Mr Picton said it was key that the problems with the service revolve around the system itself.
"The Chief Psychiatrist is pretty clearly saying that this isn't an issue where he's worried about the clinicians, the staff, the doctors, nurses, and other staff working there," he said.
"This is an issue about the resources and what's put in place to help those people."
He said staff needed more security resources to be able to "handle those who might be violent, who might be having very adverse impacts from their mental health condition."
"Will this now finally force some better security arrangements being put in place in the Mount Gambier Hospital?
SA Health Minister Stephen Wade was unavailable to provide comment.
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