Hospital Admissions and Early Discharges

@Oaktree , @tyme , @Jynx

Over the last few years my husband has taken himself to hospital at the last moment 3 times

And because he took himself to hospital, they only admit patients for a very short term

I agree it would of been better for support and what to do next but no he was sent home to cope, soo sad

@Shaz51

I really feel like the mental health system is letting consumers down in a lot of instances.

Also depends what the individual does too @Oaktree , @tyme

My husband first admitted stayed for 2 weeks in hospital

Then the specialist said he can go home or have 2.more weeks of treatment

Gave him a choice so he came home with no future inport

I think what worked really well for me were Prevention and Recovery Centres. Back then, instead of an admission, we went to a Centre and stayed on average 4 weeks. It was amazing. I wonder if we just need more of these services? @Shaz51 @Oaktree

But I hear what you are saying @Oaktree - so true when it comes to hospitals. I've had many experiences.

@tyme

I found a 4 week stay at Neami National step up/step down so beneficial. We definitely need more of these sorts of places or beds.

Yes! That's what PARCs was - step up/step down @Oaktree . It was incredibly helpful. It was voluntary, empowering, peer supported....

In my area, they have cut it back to 2 weeks though which I don't think is enough.

Yes Neami National step up/step down have support workers and there was also a peer support worker on their staff as well. It is also voluntary but there is a waitlist to get in. They had a workbook that helped you identify your strengths and talents and also covered such things as goal setting etc

@tyme

We came up with recovery goals and upon admission, we completed a Mental Health Recovery Star that looks at different aspects in our lives.

We were assigned a key worker and there were staff 24/7.

We had a calendar of activities for each day including psycheducation groups, social groups, chores etc.

After about 4 weeks, we completed another MH Recovery Star to see the difference between the initial star and the star upon discharge.

@Oaktree

@tyme

That all sounds very similar to what Neami offer. Also it is free. The accommodation was amazing. There were little units with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette, dining and lounge. There was also your own personal courtyard. They did a weekly inspection to make sure you were looking after the unit. It was amazing but you were encouraged to spend time in common areas as opposed to isolating in your unit

@Oaktree While i've had plenty of experience with hospitals recently, it hasn't been for my mental health. When I visited my sister in Canberra a couple of years ago, she talked about the really bad panic attacks she gets and how frustrating it is because she'll go to the hospital and they'll just tell her to go home.

The whole system seems to be broken and so many people are just left to go to emergency departments because they can't get in to see a GP either because they can't get an appointment for a week or it's after hours. They're starting to do more after hours services around here, but it's just a drop in the bucket. Half the GP appointments I go to are just pointless. To get paperwork filled out for the govt or referrals, or to get scripts. So I can only assume lots of other people are taking up GP time with this stuff that could easily be avoided. So as a result the ED's are slammed and if you're not seen as a high priority then it's out you go.

I remember when I had my surgery in December 2022, I was supposed to be in the high dependency ward for the first 24 hours after surgery and then moved to the general ward for the rest of my stay. I spent the whole time in the high dependency ward because no beds ever freed up to move me to.