Doctors and frontline health workers claimed they had to release people simply because there weren’t enough beds. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A Wagga nurse educator has warned that the NSW Government needs to take better care of its health professionals to avert a crisis and stop staff leaving for other states in droves.
The issue was brought into the national spotlight this week with ABC’s flagship investigative program Four Corners highlighting doctors’ warnings that we are witnessing the collapse of the public mental health care system in NSW.
Earlier this year, NSW saw a mass resignation when more than 200 trained and practising psychiatrists walked off over pay disputes and working conditions, leaving thousands stranded without access to mental health care.
“We’ve heard it from before that there was already a problem, and then now, well, it has escalated to a crisis,” Wagga Councillor Karissa Subedi said.
As a nurse educator at the College of Nursing Education and Training Australia, Cr Subedi believes that nurses are resilient, but that resilience should not be taken for granted.
“I can feel the pressure,” she said.
“As nurses, I think we are very resilient, but we don’t really want to reach a point where, you know, we snap and then there will be this crisis.
“I know some parts of NSW, for example, are closing down hospitals services because they could just not service. And we don’t want this to happen in our community.”
Region asked NSW Health if it had a response to the allegations detailed in the Four Corners program, what it was doing to address the mass resignations and if it had a response to criticism that it needed to take better care of its health professionals.
The department refused to answer the questions, referring Region to an ABC radio interview with Minister Rose Jackson that also did not answer Region’s questions.
Health service workers in the Riverina have frequently spoken out about staff shortages and cuts and proposed cuts to services over the past few years.
Under the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD)’s proposed draft Health Services Plan last year, a number of health services including pathology and maternity services would be discontinued.
While NSW Health Pathology reversed the decision to close Cootamundra Health Services’ pathology lab, MLHD told Region it had no intention to discontinue maternity services in Cootamundra after residents rallied to save them.
Cr Subedi urged the NSW Government to be more serious about looking after other health care practitioners, not just mental health professionals.
“In this regard, we’re talking about mental health practitioners, but I think it has to be the whole health system that we have to look into.
“There were reports also about doctors rallying in Wagga, nurses moving to Queensland, and now massive resignation as well with psychiatrists and mental health professionals.
“There should be something that we should do to also look after vulnerable communities.
“But who’s looking after them? Get what I mean?
“Who’s looking after the health professionals?”
Hospital staff claimed in the Four Corners investigation they were forced to release patients who were still unwell simply because they weren’t enough beds.
Cr Subedi thinks that caring for a patient is more than “ticking off a checklist” and shouldn’t end once they are discharged.
“So we can’t just, administer medications, for example, and just get it done. You really need to look at the patient and really sit down and ask how they’re feeling,” she said. “It’s that human aspect that I think we should not be missing.
“But we cannot just say that we are not doing the human aspect because we’re too busy to get things done because we are stressed.
“When a person does not need acute care anymore, then we have to really think as to where next. So it could be as an outpatient or the community or, yeah, there should be some kind of referral system, but I could not speak on behalf of those experiencing it.
“It is also something that we need to look into, because it will be the most vulnerable population or community who would [be affected].”
Australians for Mental Health has urged the government to adopt a holistic approach to personal wellbeing.
“I don’t want to see heartbreaking stories like this on national television in the future. I want to see governments held to account for shaping a culture and society that allows people to flourish, not become so unwell that they reach crisis point,” CEO Chris Gambian said.
“We need timely and affordable access to high quality services no matter where you live and what your financial situation is in Australia, but we also need a greater focus on how so many aspects of our lives influence how we feel, such as having secure housing and having places to come together.”
