Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Matt Cunningham on RDH and Mental Health

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Matt Cunningham on RDH and Mental Health · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf on Mixed one oh four
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin. You are listening
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to Mix one oh four point nine is three sixty
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and joining us live on the line right now is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham from Sky News. Good morning to you, Matt.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I'll get a Katie.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I know mate that you are out of the press
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: conference of Health Minister's press conference right now and probably
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: good timing following on from this extensive report in the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory News today that you've completed into Royal Darwin
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Hospital and report that it is in crisis with a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: lack of beds basically placing extraordinary pressure on the emergency
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: department and forcing doctors to use distressing practices and this
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: all centers around mental health care.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a pretty serious situation, Katie, and you know
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I've spoken to several people here to confirm this information.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: That's point today. But you know, some of those allegations
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: are quite serious and they include that mental health patients
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: that are being heavily sedated in some cases violence, psychiatric
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: patients in the emergency department are having to be intubated
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and placed under general an aesthetic and put on a
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: ventilator in the IC, youth are effectively placed in an
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: induced coma, just so that they can be controlled and
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: so that the safety of the staff and the patients
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: and visitors to the hospital can be assured. I'm also
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: told that in cases there are patients who are spending
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: three or four days basically to quote one clinician, locked
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: in a box in the emergency department because there's just
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: simply not the ability to admit these patients into one
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: of the mental health care facilities. Now we know that
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: there are eight beds in the Joan and Ridley unit,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: there's another eighteen in the County ward. That is just
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: proving to be simply insufficient. The hospital's overrun by these
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: mental health patients. There's been a search in mental health
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: presentation since since the lockdown's lifted following coronavirus, and that's
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: just placing extraordinary pressure on the staff at Royal Dale
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: and Hospital. Perhaps the most concerning we Go Okadi is
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the reports that we have confirmed where in some cases
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: sectioned patients so involuntary psychiatric patients have been let free,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: have been allowed to walk from the emergency department at
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the Royal daleen hospital, and that's simply because the staff
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: have just been put in an incredibly difficult situation. Their
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: option basically is to either have these patients held down
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and sedated, to leave them unsedated in the emergency department
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: with the potential for drastic consequences like the case you
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: revealed the other day where a security guard was stabbed,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: or you know, the third option in what is really
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: a horrible Hobson's choice is to allow the patient to
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: walk out. Knows how drastic the situation is when in
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: some cases they are seeing that as their best and
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: only option in this situation.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: But it's pretty terrifying stuff.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: It's dangerous obviously for those patients, it's dangerous for everybody
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: else in the hospital, it's dangerous for staff. I mean,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: there's so many reasons why this needs to get sorted.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: What is the Health minister had to say this morning
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: or she's holding a.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Press conference as we speak, so I'm going to have
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: to run fairly choice. Tashals will be holding a press
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: conference in about three minutes, so we'll get an idea
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: from her as to exactly what the government's going to
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: do about this. We know they released the tender this
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: week for refurbishments and developments to mental health facilities at
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: the Royal Vale and Hospital campus. Were already saying though
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: that what's being proposed is too little and too late.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: We're talking about thirty million dollars worth of upgrades year
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: at Royal dar in the hospital. Interestingly, today the front
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: page of the GELNG advertise reports the more than one
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty million dollars spent on health taking of
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: a similar size to Darwin. I think perhaps we need
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: to be asking the normal territory and the federal government
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: whether it's something similar needs to be done here because
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: at the moment, the situation there, yeah, at Royal dal
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And Hospital is a really dangerous one. It's putting an
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: incredible amount of pressure on the staff and I can
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: tell you, Katie, from those I've spoken to people out
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: there in the emergency department in particular at Royal Dale
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and Hospital but also in the psychiatric wards, they are
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: at breaking point. They really are doing it incredibly tough
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: and I think company needs to be done urgently to
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: do something about this situation.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're spot on. I know I've spoken to some
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: stuff out there as well, and you're spot on. They're concerned,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: just very quickly because I know you've got to run.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: But we do know as well that last month the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: top a mental health service hired a dedicated local consultant
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to manage a team of mental health clinicians working within
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: the emergency department. However, she resigned after just four days
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: on the job.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, and you know, according to my concerned
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: about the risk that was associated with her job within
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: the emergency department and that if something went seriously wrong,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we hope there's a good chance it could that she
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: could be held responsible for that. The department says to
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the reasons that her departure are her own and they're confidential.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: So no confirmation from the department on that that. I've
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: certainly been told her that she was concerned about the situation.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Now, yeah, well, Matt Cunningham, no doubt this is going
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: to be on the agenda tomorrow for the week that
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: was when you'll be joining us, as will the Health
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Minister and the Opposition leader. Should be an.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Interesting one, No worry, Good on you, Matt.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Thank you Matt Cunningham there from Sky News obviously out
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: at that press conference this morning. But yeah, This is
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: a serious concern, There's no doubt about that, and it
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: is something that we've been speaking about throughout the week,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: and I know that it's quite a tough one as well.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about mental health, there is
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that stigma surrounding mental health, which there shouldn't be, but
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: there is. And then when you add to that, you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the situation that's obviously happening at the moment at Royal
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Dalen Hospital. You know, we're probably hard pressed to actually
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: hear from a family member who has a loved one
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: that is out there at RDH, or that's been through
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the emergency department and struggled, or that you know, has
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: obviously been impacted by this situation because a lot of
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the time it's not something that people want to come
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: out and publicly speak about. So I really hope that
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we are able to, you know, to make some change
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: in this space and try to ensure that we do
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: see these facilities expanded. As Matt then pointed out, we
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: do know that there has been a obviously a tend
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to go out a little bit earlier in the week,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and I will try to make sure that we that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: we take you through the detail of what's been proposed
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: in that tender as well, so that you've got a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: really good understanding of exactly what the government is planning
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: to do when it comes to that money around the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: mental health facility, because it's been some that we've talked
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: about for quite some time.