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).
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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1026 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Journal | Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 10 |
Early online date | 1 Jan 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2019 |
Keywords
- Western Sydney
- psychiatric beds
- mental health policy