ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith announced today that patients at the Bruce Calvary Public Hospital mental health ward are being relocated to a new facility at Calvary’s private hospital due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The move is to make space available for a Covid specialist respiratory ward in case the Canberra outbreak significantly increases and more people would need to be admitted for treatment.
“The unit will provide an area dedicated to respiratory patients who are COVID positive or are suspected to have COVID,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“This means these patients are not placed on short-stay or other in-patient wards before their COVID-19 status is determined.”
Although this change will significantly disrupt the lives of vulnerable people suffering mental illnesses, the Minister says Canberra Health Services are working hard to maintain capacity to treat acute mental health needs.
Convenor for Canberra Mental Health Forum, Rosslyn Williams, said the ACT Government is not doing enough to support people with pre-existing mental health issues during these challenging times when these at-risk people need extra support right now, not less.
“Generally, we don’t find the services to be terribly good and I think the adult mental health unit is full at the moment, so it’s really difficult for people to receive timely help,” Ms Williams said.
“COVID-19 is having a huge impact and I’m constantly hearing reports of people’s depression symptoms becoming worse and the general level of anxiety is increasing.”
She said updated statistic reports haven’t yet been released concerning the impact of the current lockdown on people with pre-existing mental illnesses, but she is aware last year’s lockdown caused a significant increase in mental health presentations and assumes the same trend will follow.
If you are suffering from mental illness or are in distress, help is available through these services:
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
- Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
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