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LONG stay mental health care services are needed in Port Macquarie, but the resources are simply not there to support this service in the rural sector, says a senior mental health director.
It comes, as more than a year on from the closure of Ellimatta – essentially a former community based mental health long stay support service – advocates are still crying out for the provision of a group home.
In February last year, Mid North Coast Local Health District, Director of Mental Health and Drug Alcohol Services John Leary told the Port News Ellimatta was no longer needed.
He denied Ellimatta was closed, but said it was no longer taking residents because people were being referred to other types of more appropriate care.
“The issue was – back then– that there were no suitable referrals for that unit,” Mr Leary said.
At least a handful of referrals were received, but they were assessed and passed on to other areas in the service.
Families of severe mental illness sufferers have told the Port News traditional rehabilitative care is simply not working for their loved ones, who they believe need a group support home.
While the multi-faceted and complex problems of patients were recognised, Mr Leary said the service was making the best use of limited resources.
“There are facilities of this kind around the state. The need is not so great in this area that we can afford a full unit for one or two patients.”
He said the service aimed to take a “positive view” and encourage sufferers to live independently.
“We like to think that maybe we need to work more to allow them to live on their own.”
A Clinical Services Plan recommends the Ellimatta home be used as an outpatient service for youth with mental health issues.
A final decision about the site’s future would be made in June, he said.
The current Port Macquarie Base Hospital redevelopment project does not include additional mental health services.
This is despite a former head of the Medical Staff Council declaring in 2007 the hospital needed 20 to 30 beds to function efficiently. Today, the psychiatric ward has just 12 beds.
“A Clinical Services Plan is currently in the final stages of development which details the anticipated future need for the next 10 years. This plan will then provide the MNCLHD with the basis to make submissions for expansion in the future,” Mr Leary said.
The Mid North Coast Local Health District Mental Health Service would not commenton the longest time a patient had been kept in the Port Macquarie Base Hospital’s inpatient psychiatric ward.
They were also unable to provide the cost between keeping a patient in a psychiatric inpatient unit for a year, compared to the former annual running costs of Ellimatta.
However, Mr Leary said the cost of a service varies on a number of differing factors.
“When determining the type of treatment to be provided, the mental health needs of the patient are the most important factor in deciding the treatment regime, not cost,” he said.