Annual Report 2005-2006 - Forensicare

Inpatient Services
18
Strategic objectives
• Provide specialist forensic mental health inpatient
treatment and care to people with a serious mental
disorder in the criminal justice system and those
patients at risk of behaving violently.
• Provide high quality clinical services that meet
regulations, legislative and security requirements.
• Provide liaison and consultative services to public
mental health services and other agencies in relation to
treatment of mentally disordered clients with significant
forensic issues.
Challenges
• Minimising the impact within the organisation of the
international shortage of specialised forensic mental
health clinicians.
• Maintaining the provision of high level services to the
criminal justice system in the face of mounting demand
for care and treatment.
• Ensuring that technology, security and associated
building infrastructure at the Thomas Embling Hospital
remains of the highest calibre.
How we plan to succeed in 2006-2007
Consolidating and Strengthening Clinical Programs –
• Continue to develop and implement clinical programs
and systems to address patient management
requirements in dual diagnosis and offending behaviour,
as part of the ongoing Consolidating and Strengthening
Clinical Programs project.
• Continue to evaluate the implementation process,
clinical program reform and the outcomes of the new
clinical programs and systems developed to address
management requirements and co-occurring disorders
and offending behaviour.
Security –
• Subject to funding by the Department of Human
Services, implement the findings of the review of
security and associated infrastructure undertaken
in 2005-2006.
• Implement new security maintenance tender
arrangements.
Subject to funding, establish a Campus Program Coordinator
position to develop and implement a whole-ofhospital
approach to therapeutic, vocational, recreational
and educational programs.
Review the Consumer and Carer Participation Plans and
develop a five year strategic plan for consumer and carer
participation.
Provide support and programs to specialist patient
populations that include –
• aged
• adolescents
• culturally diverse
• women
PROFILE
• Thomas Embling Hospital - a 100-bed secure hospital
for patients from the criminal justice system who are
in need of psychiatric assessment and/or care and
treatment for patients from the public mental health
system who require specialised management.
• Specialist prison mental health services at Melbourne
Assessment Prison, and sessional psychiatric
consultations at the larger regional prisons operated
by Corrections Victoria.
• Services provided at Melbourne Assessment Prison
include a 16-bed Acute Assessment Unit (for
assessment of prisoners thought to be mentally ill
and/or at risk), reception assessment program,
outpatient services and after-hours crisis intervention.
KEY OUTCOMES
FUNDING TO INCREASE CAPACITY
OF THOMAS EMBLING HOSPITAL
Pressure on beds at Thomas Embling Hospital continued
to increase during the year, despite measures introduced to
ensure prisoners certified for admission wait no longer than
72 hours for a bed at the hospital. Critically elevated levels
of patient acuity at Thomas Embling Hospital were the most
overt symptom of the underlying system capacity shortfalls.
Pressures from within prisons, from courts and from area
mental health services showed no sign of remitting.
Council proposed an interim service capacity increase
of 18 beds to the Department of Human Services, and we
worked closely with the Department to further develop the
proposal. The proposal for an interim expansion of bed
capacity was approved and funding for this program was
announced by the Minister for Health in May 2006. Subject
to receiving the requisite planning approvals, it is anticipated
that the new 18-bed inpatient unit will be commissioned
early in 2007.
CONSOLIDATING AND
STRENGTHENING CLINICAL
PROGRAMS
New clinical programs and systems to address patient
treatment requirements in the areas of dual diagnosis and
offending behaviour continued to be developed and
implemented as part of the Consolidating and Strengthening
Clinical Programs initiative. The Implementation Working
Group met fortnightly throughout 2005-2006 to oversee the
development and implementation of the initiative across the
organisation. Outcomes in 2005-2006 include –
Training
A total of 1,295 training hours on aspects of the
Consolidating and Strengthening Clinical Programs initiative
was provided to clinical staff in 2005-2006.
The training provided included –
Violence Risk Scale –
Additional training was provided to twelve selected staff
on the use of the Violence Risk Scale. This training will be