Albany Health Campus records surge in child mental health emergency department presentations

The number of children and youths presenting to the Albany Health Campus emergency department with mental health conditions jumped by nearly 50 per cent in the last financial year. In the 2020-21 financial year, 269 children and youths presented to the AHC ED — up from 182 in 2019-2020 — questioning in State Parliament revealed last week. There were 177 admissions in 2018-19 and 153 in 2017-18. The Albany hospital recorded the second highest number of regional presentations in the last financial year, behind Bunbury. Broome and Karratha health campuses recorded the biggest regional percentage increase at 51 per cent, followed by Busselton at 49 per cent and Albany at 48 per cent. In the first four months of the current financial year, 92 under 18-year-olds have presented to AHC ED with mental health conditions. Albany’s statistics reflect a troubling Statewide increase in the number of children hospitalised with mental health conditions in recent years. In 2019-2020, there were 7315 emergency department admissions for people under 18 across public hospitals in WA. But by the end of the 2020-2021 financial year, the annual hospitalisation rate had skyrocketed to almost 10,000. Responding to the figures, WACHS Great Southern regional director Geraldine Ennis said “while these numbers seem high without context”, they were representative of a service that was not available in Albany until two years ago. “We established integrated outpatient and inpatient paediatric support services at AHC in 2020,” she said. “We now have three specialist paediatricians working with us, as well as clinical nurse specialists, child and adolescent mental health services and nursery services so country kids can receive care — including mental health support — closer to home. “Throughout this time, we have also established a GP/psychiatrist support line for GPs seeking advice on the assessment, care and management of patients with mental health issues. “This has been an extremely effective tool for local GPs — aiding them in treating young patients with mental health issues and connecting them to the support they need through our child and adolescent mental health service.” Shadow health minister Libby Mettam on Saturday said many children presented to WA hospitals multiple times “stuck in a revolving door of hospitalisations without proper community support”. “We know that prevention, early intervention and community support is key but we have a Government unwilling to prioritise in this area,” she said. “Instead, the government is buying time yet again, waiting for yet another review — the Ministerial Taskforce into Public Mental Health Services for Infant, Children and Adolescents aged 0–18 years in WA — before it will reconsider funding priorities. The review was due in November and we are yet to see it.” A spokesperson for Mental Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said in 2021-2022, there was a record $1.14 billion investment in mental health. The spokesperson said there were significant challenges in child and adolescent mental health and all Australian governments were facing similar issues with increasing demand for services. “We recognise that there is an urgent need to quickly increase the capacity of community services to meet the needs of children, families and carers,” they said.