Minister expresses disappointment with fall in compliance

Today the Minister for Primary, Social Care and Mental Health welcomed the publication of the Mental Health Commission Annual Report for 2014.

However the Minister expressed disappointment that the report showed that in 2014 compliance with a number of articles and codes had fallen.

“The era of mental health care provided in large Victorian hospitals is almost at an end,” said Minister Lynch.

“Only four of these hospitals remain and they will be closed within the next two years. The number of children admitted to adult wards continues to fall, with 89 admissions to such wards in 2014 compared to 98 in 2013.

“We need to be constantly vigilant and to sustain our efforts to keep reducing these admissions. The HSE has recently re-focused various initiatives to achieve further improvement.”

The Minister said that although regulatory compliance has risen steadily over the years, it is “very disappointing” that in 2014 compliance with a number of Articles and Codes has fallen. She expressed particular disappointment that only 41 per cent of approved Centres were compliant with the Article relating to Care Plans.

“A patient-centred recovery oriented service is meaningless unless each person has an individual Care and Treatment Plan, to which he or she has had an input. I have asked the HSE to provide me with an outline of how they intend to reach a minimum of compliance in 75 per cent of Approved Centres for next year. In respect of the other areas highlighted by the Commission where less than 79 per cent of approved centres are compliant, I have asked the HSE to achieve a minimum 10 per cent improvement in the coming year.”