Home Australia Why NSW is on the brink of a mental health crisis – as system is ‘rapidly collapsing’

Why NSW is on the brink of a mental health crisis – as system is ‘rapidly collapsing’

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Resigned psychiatrist Christina Matthews, RANZCP NSW president Pramudie Gunaratne and resigned psychiatrist Anu Kataria, pictured in Sydney on Tuesday.

Wards have closed and hospitals are bracing for the mental health crisis to worsen in New South Wales, as resignations from public psychiatrists begin to arrive.

Nearly two-thirds of public hospital psychiatrists are set to resign from NSW Health over a pay dispute in a state system that already has 140 long-term vacancies.

An urgent hearing before the Industrial Relations Commission on Tuesday failed to resolve the dispute, which is now scheduled for a five-day negotiation hearing starting March 17.

Twenty-five specialists have rescinded their resignations and 81 have delayed or suspended their decision to leave, New South Wales Health Minister Rose Jackson said.

“That still leaves 100 people who have indicated they will resign this week or next,” he said Tuesday.

“I think that’s dangerous, I think that’s bad for patients, (but) employment is not servitude…we recognize that people don’t have to work.”

Anu Kataria resigned as a psychiatrist at Cumberland Hospital in mid-January, saying the situation had become untenable.

“I have worked at Cumberland Hospital for more than 20 years and have seen the facilities and services offered gradually reduced to a level where we now offer minimal care,” he told AAP.

Resigned psychiatrist Christina Matthews, RANZCP NSW president Pramudie Gunaratne and resigned psychiatrist Anu Kataria, pictured in Sydney on Tuesday.

Perinatal care advocate Ariane Beeston is pictured with her son Henry in Sydney.

Perinatal care advocate Ariane Beeston is pictured with her son Henry in Sydney.

Dr Kataria and her colleagues Pramudie Ganuratne and Christina Matthews say the resignations were the final straw for an undervalued workforce.

“This is not about pay increases, but about how we can fully resource a mental health system that is rapidly collapsing before our eyes,” Dr. Ganuratne said.

“Even today we know that there are four closures at Cumberland Hospital in terms of its acute and rehabilitation wards.”

New mothers who experience mental disorders may also need to be treated in general psychiatric units separate from their babies.

Ariane Beeston was admitted to a private mother and baby psychiatric unit after suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare but very serious mental health condition.

He said the closure of beds in public maternal and child units, established to provide care for women experiencing significant mental health problems in the perinatal period, would have long-term implications.

“The concern now is that women would have to be treated in general psychiatric units, where they would be separated from their babies, which is incredibly traumatic at a vulnerable time,” Ms Beeston said.

There are two public hospital mother and child units in New South Wales, both in Sydney.

A unit at Westmead Hospital (pictured) has had to close its eight beds due to staff shortages.

A unit at Westmead Hospital (pictured) had to close its eight beds due to staff shortages.

The Westmead Hospital unit had to close its eight beds due to staff shortages.

Treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, used for complex and serious mental health conditions, may also not be able to continue in some public hospitals.

UNSW professor Colleen Loo has worked as a psychiatrist in the state’s public hospital system for 29 years and says problems that have built up over a decade will only be exacerbated by the resignations.

“It is the most seriously ill people who will be affected by this…those who cannot give voluntary consent (for treatment) cannot be treated privately and need these specialist services in the public sector,” he said.

Premier Chris Minns said the state could not afford the 25 per cent pay rise psychiatrists were asking for and blamed the previous coalition government’s pay policy for suppressing public sector wages for 12 years.

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