Is it really safe to cut psychiatric beds in Western Sydney by 15%? A reply to Atkinson et al.

Stephen Allison, Tarun Bastiampillai, David Castle, Simon Judkins

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

To the Editor

We write in response to a recent article in the Journal, from Atkinson et al. (2018), in which they report on a model that indicates psychiatric beds can be safely cut in Western Sydney by 15%, despite the authors’ own observation that the region is experiencing ‘an increasing trend in hospitalisations for mental health disorder placing pressure on tertiary services’ (p. 3). Mental health admissions have indeed risen faster than population growth (from around 1400 to 1900 per 100,000 population over 15 years), which suggests that bed numbers should be increasing rather than reducing in Western Sydney (www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au/Indicator/bod_hos_cat/bod_hos_cat_comparison).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1026
Number of pages1
JournalAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Volume53
Issue number10
Early online date1 Jan 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • Western Sydney
  • psychiatric beds
  • mental health policy

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