The escape of a patient from a mental health facility this weekend raises significant concerns about the state of the mental health system in the ACT, the Canberra Liberals say.

On Sunday, 32-year-old Jessie Gould left the Adult Mental Health Unit at Canberra Hospital, Garran. A magistrate had referred Mr Gould to Canberra Hospital last week to receive a mental health assessment. Police are searching for Mr Gould. If they see him, the public should not approach Mr Gould, but rather call the police immediately.

Last year, Alex Ophel, a schizophrenic inmate at the Gawanggal Mental Health Unit, was granted leave from his facility, and attacked several students at the Australian National University. Earlier this month, in response to the Chief Psychiatrist’s report, the ACT Government announced it would establish a cross-government taskforce to improve legislation, clinical care, and leave processes for mentally impaired people found not guilty.

Ed Cocks, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, said Mr Gould’s escape showed worrying echoes of the problems highlighted in the Chief Psychiatrist’s report, and that mental health minister Emma Davidson (ACT Greens) must answer questions to ease legitimate concerns of Canberrans about the mental health system.

“Canberrans deserve to know how, after every other failure by this Minister, this has been allowed to happen again,” Mr Cocks said.

“The Minister also needs to explain why this individual was not being assessed in the secure mental health facility. Why did it once again take so long to alert the community? Was there at any stage any consideration of the potential safety risks to the community of the individual?”

Mr Cocks said the lessons from the former chief psychiatrist’s report needed to be considered more broadly than just leave decisions.

“This incident seems to point to the same failures that were identified in the report by the former Chief Psychiatrist.

“Canberrans deserve to be safe, feel safe, and they deserve a mental health system that helps people recover and ensure community safety.

“In less than 18 months, under this Minister, the mental health system has seen:

•  The violent killing of a man admitted to the Adult Mental Health Unit
•  disastrous handling of multiple patient information breaches
• allegations of patients absconding from care and returning intoxicated
• the stabbing of two young women by a patient who had been given leave from the mental health unit; and
•  a secret review into the toxic and dysfunctional office of the Minister herself.

“We are yet to receive any detail about any of these incidents, and the Minister seems to have no intention of telling Canberrans what is going on,” Mr Cocks said.

“The longer the Minister persists in hiding details behind technicalities, the more it will undermine trust in Canberra’s mental health system.”

Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury (ACT Greens) said the opposition’s comments were unhelpful. “I don’t think they reflect the complexity of the situation. They’ve conflated a number of quite different events in one media statement. They’ve clearly generated a level of concern that is unhelpful to the situation.”

ACT Policing and Canberra Health Services had led the immediate response, Mr Rattenbury noted.

“ACT Policing, who took the primary lead on this matter, were very upfront with the public about the fact that they were seeking this individual, so there’s not been a lack of transparency…

“The primary focus at the moment is on identifying the individual, ensuring they are taken back into custody, and that they receive the treatment they need.”

Later, there would be a review into how Mr Gould left the Adult Mental Health Unit.

“Minister Davidson is focused on this matter, and will be keen to follow through and make sure that where there are lessons or changes, those are implemented as quickly as possible,” Mr Rattenbury said.

However: “Expecting answers in the first 24 hours is not the right approach.”

“When you take a long-term look at the mental health system, it is a complex area. There are trivial issues that arise on a semi-regular basis [when] dealing with people who often undertake unpredictable behaviour. Our clinicians are [working] with these complex clients … to the best of their ability. But there’s always room for improvement in the system. and the important part is how we respond to these matters. That is what we will see from Ms Davidson…”