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Western Australia will cut the number of inpatient mental health beds available for children in crisis, despite years of warnings that the system is struggling to keep up.
This masthead can reveal Perth Children’s Hospital’s mental health inpatient ward for children under 16 will be reduced from 20 beds to 16, once an ongoing refurbishment is complete.
The ward is the state’s only inpatient emergency mental health facility for children younger than 16.
A Child and Adolescent Health Service spokesperson said the ward would have “more therapeutic and activity spaces, and an enlarged courtyard to meet the contemporary needs of patients”.
But the move to fewer beds comes as a shock to bereaved Port Kennedy mother Meron Savage, whose daughter Kate, 13, died by suicide in July 2020, after multiple admissions to PCH.
Kate’s death led to a major review of the state’s mental health system for young people.
In December 2020, chief psychiatrist at the time, Nathan Gibson, found Kate’s death highlighted a “serious problem” with a system that is struggling to cope with a rise in demand.
“(The system) is not set up to properly respond to the steep growth in self-harm, suicidal ideation and attempted suicide … primarily in the 13 to 17 year age group, but also worryingly, in the younger age groups,” Gibson said.
He also noted the lack of beds at the time, writing there was “an increasing number of children and young people with mental health disorders admitted to other wards in the hospital because of a lack of available specialist mental health beds in Ward 5A”.
Gibson recommended a ministerial taskforce be created to overhaul mental health services for young people. The taskforce later made 32 recommendations, which the state government committed to implementing.
However, an auditor general’s report in June found just one had been completed, 26 were in progress, and five had not been implemented.
Meron said in the last months of her daughter’s life, she attended the PCH emergency department eight times and had six admissions.
She said they sometimes spent 24 and 36 hours waiting for a bed in the emergency department. And said Kate was discharged before she was ready “every time”.
A CAHS spokesperson told this masthead Ward 5A had an average occupancy rate of 59 per cent this financial year and 57 per cent over the past four financial years.
But Meron said this data did not reflect her experience.
“I don’t know why the beds are only half full. It is concerning given the psychiatric report after Kate’s death saying the system was severely under strain,” she said.
“In our case, Kate could not be kept safe in hospital, because the supervision was not appropriate, and she was still somehow able to self harm. So she would be discharged, but we could not keep her safe either.”
In the final months of Kate’s life, Meron and her husband tried to turn their family home into somewhere their daughter could not hurt herself.
They hid power cords, phone chargers, cutlery, plates, glasses and cleaning products. Light fittings were removed and even Kate’s wardrobe because it had a rail.
“We had to remove all cutlery because even spoons can be bent and snapped and then used to self-harm,” Meron said.
“The house was bare. It was like a prison. Everything is locked. I had to sleep with a key around my neck. Me or my husband had to be awake at all times.
“You never feel like they’re safe.”
Meron said Kate could be happy and making plans, but then have an impulse to hurt herself.
“If they can’t be at home, but they can’t be in hospital, where can they go?” she said.
A CAHS spokesperson said the number of beds currently in use “varied daily to meet the needs of young people”.
“CAHS is committed to delivering and expanding specialised mental health services to support children and young people in the community,” the spokesperson said.
Crisis support is available from Lifeline 13 11 14, and Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.
Carla Hildebrandt is a journalist with WAtoday. She previously worked on ABC’s Four Corners and as a court reporter at The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. For secure contact: carlahildebrandt@proton.me.Connect via email.From our partners
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