Concerns raised over deteriorating state of local mental health care facilities
READER'S CONCERN
A Newsport reader has recently expressed concerns regarding the state of mental health facilities at hospitals in Mossman, Julatten, and Mareeba.
The concerned Newsport reader observed a significant decrease in staff members, which, according to them, results in inadequate support for those in need of mental health services.
The reader made these observations after their friend was turned away to call hotlines when seeking help.
“The current state of the local mental health care team at Mossman Hospital seems to have been allowed to deteriorate to a point where it is no longer able to adequately serve the community,” the reader stated.
The reader further expressed frustration that the remaining staff at the facility were unable to provide them with any specific timelines for when the local team would be fully operational again, especially for essential services like local case management.
“I’m told by reception that Mareeba and Atherton mental health wards are experiencing short staffing too currently,” the reader stated.
“No one could offer any deadlines or timelines of when the local team would be up and running again doing local case management which is what is needed up here.”
The reader observed that services have been outsourced to a faceless entity, with no in-home case management or in-person care for the community.
Instead, distant virtual phone calls are offered as a ‘workaround’, which the reader suspected might become a permanent replacement for the mental health nurses and practitioners who usually served the Mossman team.
“It’s alarming at how vulnerable this makes people up here if there are no professionals to turn to in mental health. It can actually mean the difference between life, death or hospitalisation for unwell people.”
Comment from CHHS
Following Newsport's inquiry about the current status of mental health care teams at Mossman-, Atherton-, and Mareeba Hospital, a spokesperson from Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHS) provided the following response:
“Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service provides a regionalised mental health service across Mossman and the Tablelands.
“All mental health clients have an allocated clinician.
“Recent staff sick leave at Mossman has resulted in some clients being allocated a different case manager and all continue to receive mental health care.
“There has also been some short-term reduction in in-person clinics in July, as a temporary measure to ensure all current clients can continue to receive individualised care.”
If you or someone you know is in danger, ring 000 or call 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 2255) for a confidential mental health telephone triage service that provides the first point of contact to public mental health services to Queenslanders.
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