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House of Assembly Tuesday 25 September 2018

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House of Assembly Tuesday 25 September 2018 Tuesday 25 September 2018 The Speaker, Ms Hickey, took the Chair at 10 a.m., acknowledged the Traditional People, and read Prayers. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS Madam SPEAKER - Honourable members I welcome grades 8 and 9 from the King Island District High School. Members - Hear, hear. QUESTIONS Royal Hobart Hospital - Accommodation for Young Psychiatric Patients Ms WHITE question to MINISTER for HEALTH, Mr FERGUSON [10.03 a.m.] Last week we saw patients seeking treatment for mental ill health forced to sleep on the Emergency Department floor because of a lack of beds. We saw a whistleblower claiming young Tasmanians are dying because they cannot access mental health services. Now it has been revealed that for the past six months a 15-year-old girl has been held in seclusion at the Royal Hobart Hospital's adult psychiatric ward. Why do you not provide adequate resources and staff to provide quality care for mental health patients in Tasmania? ANSWER Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question. It is very important that we focus on what is best for the community and what is best for individual patients who need our services at a time of need. If you look at the way in which the Leader of the Opposition has asked the question she is asking me about a specific case of a specific person, a child in our care. The Government is not in a position, and should not be in a position, to give individual commentary on individual cases. We are not allowed to do that. We cannot do that. Ms White - Nobody asked you to. Do not deflect. Mr Bacon - Why won't you provide adequate resources and staff? Mr FERGUSON - It would be wrong to do that. It would be a breach of privacy and confidentiality to publicly discuss any individual patient. Ms O'Byrne - Nobody asked you to. Madam SPEAKER - Order. Mr FERGUSON - and by the way there can be consequences for doing so including for members opposite bringing into this place - 1 25 September 2018 Mr O'BYRNE - Point of order, Madam Speaker. Section 45 - relevance. The question was very clear. It relates to the resources and staff for quality care to mental health patients in Tasmania. The minister in his answer is reflecting on the motivations of the Labor Party which is inappropriate. Madam SPEAKER - I accept that, Mr Byrne, but it is not a point of order. I ask the minister to stay to the relevance of the question. Mr FERGUSON - Madam Speaker, I have done that and I will continue to do that. For the Leader of the Opposition to bring into this House, a public place, commentary on an individual case needs to be very carefully considered by members of this House and it should not happen. If the Leader of the Opposition has concerns, there are ways for her to raise those and ensure that they are responsibly responded to. The Government is committed in this area. We are making long overdue progress exactly so that we can provide the facilities that young people need in Tasmania. Madam Speaker, did you know that in Tasmania we have never had inpatient psychiatric services for children anywhere in Tasmania in any dedicated facility ever in our history? In all the years that Tasmania has been providing care we have never had those services. We have never had those facilities and we are now building them. Ms O'Byrne - Really? Mr FERGUSON - Yes, really. We are building them right now in Hobart in the south of the state. We are building them right now in the north of the state. We saw commitments made by members opposite in this area that were never honoured. This Government, only in our first term of office, has them now being built. Now, in our second term, we are about to open them. We should never see children's psychiatric care, especially individual cases, being brought onto the floor of the parliament for public discussion. It is reprehensible. It is the case that there has been reporting on a particular case which is concerning to me. I have responded to that in a very responsible way bearing in mind the accountability that I have to be responsible in this area. I am always concerned if ever there are individual instances where people cannot get the medical care they need. I do not accept it if the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting otherwise. In any case this is a circumspect comment which is not about the individual case, I make that clear - I am able to say that my office has been in discussions with the Chief Psychiatrist and where there are complex cases, indeed very heart-rending cases, I am able to assure the House that the Chief Psychiatrist does have clinical oversight and opportunity to review and that he has not raised with me any concerns in this area about inappropriate treatment being given. Hospitals - Employment of Psychiatric Emergency Nurses Ms WHITE question to MINISTER for HEALTH, Mr FERGUSON [10.08 a.m.] The tragic story of a 15-year-old girl being held in seclusion at the adult psychiatric ward of the Royal Hobart Hospital has again highlighted the unacceptable lack of beds and services for children and adolescents suffering mental ill health in Tasmania. Last week a whistleblower from the child and adolescent mental health service provided a stark warning when they said, and I quote: 2 25 September 2018 Children will keep dying and very highly qualified professionals will be burned out and not work if the system does not change. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has been calling on your Government to fund a psychiatric emergency nurse at the North West Regional Hospital but you have refused. They have also asked for your Government to fund a psychiatric emergency nurse at the Launceston General Hospital but you have put so many restrictions around the terms of the contract that no-one has applied. Will you now reconsider and urgently act to fund a psychiatric emergency nurse at both the Launceston General Hospital and the North West Regional Hospital and match the commitment that Labor made at the state election? ANSWER Madam Speaker, mental health has a great commitment by this Hodgman Liberal majority government and we have the policies to prove it. I am surprised the Leader of the Opposition would ask the Government to match Labor's mental health policy. If we did that we would be doing 25 per cent of our commitment. Our Government does not have a $25 million mental health policy. We have a $95 million mental health policy and, importantly, we promised 25 additional beds while Labor has promised just 10 and could not say where they would be. I note in the question that the Leader of the Opposition again raises an individual case of a 15-year-old child, which I have already responded to. I also heard in the question a claim around the lack of inpatient service for children needing psychiatric care. Where was the care from Labor when they were in office? In 2009 the then minister for health, Lara Giddings, said it would be at least 12 months before the new paediatric mental health and adolescent unit was completed. In 2009 Labor held out hope that just a year after that there would be a service. We are now building the facility Labor never got around to. Ms White - What happened after that, nearly a decade ago? Is that the best you've got? Take some responsibility for this. What about the psychiatric emergency nurses? Mr FERGUSON - You want to change the subject and you do not like your history. Ms White - It was the question! Madam SPEAKER - Order. Mr FERGUSON - We are building the facilities and when they are open they will provide wonderful services to young people. Ms WHITE - Point of order, Madam Speaker, going to relevance. The question was about whether the minister would fund psychiatric emergency nurses at the North West Regional Hospital and the Launceston General Hospital. If you could draw his attention to answering the question I would be grateful. Mr FERGUSON - Madam Speaker, on that point of order I remind you and others that I am answering parts of the question that was asked. I am happy to get onto the psychiatric emergency nurses. 3 25 September 2018 Madam SPEAKER - Thank you, let us proceed. Mr FERGUSON - If Labor is uncomfortable with their failure in this area they ought to say sorry to Tasmanians. We are now building those facilities. I wish I could open them tomorrow. They are currently being built in the south - Mr O'BYRNE - What about the nurses? Madam SPEAKER - Order, Mr O'Byrne. Mr FERGUSON - and in the north and when they are finished we can all celebrate a service that is long overdue for Tasmanian families. I look forward to that day. Stop politicking about it. In relation to psychiatric emergency nurses - PENs - this Government came to the rescue for a PEN service at the Royal Hobart Hospital that the previous government left unfunded. We addressed that and stopped it from closing. The O'Byrne ministry in this area allowed the federal funding knowing it was coming to an end but did not provide an assurance it would be continued. We did that in one of our first budgets. I reject the allegation of the Leader of the Opposition in relation to the PEN service in the north because we have recently agreed to a 12-month trial at the Launceston General Hospital around this model.
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