The peak body for mental health consumers in Victoria says the Warrnambool and Ballarat base hospitals are failing older adults in their mental health units due to their use of physical restraints and seclusion.
The hospitals have responded, saying there are working hard to implement the recommendations of the recently tabled Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System, and the data used in the report does not tell the whole story.
The Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council's latest Seclusion Report, subtitled How Safe is My Hospital?, assessed the use of physical and mechanical restraints, as well as forced isolation or "seclusion" of inpatients — practices it says are harmful for patients.
Concerns for older people
The report is a mixed bag for Grampians Health and South West Healthcare, which run the Ballarat and Warrnambool base hospitals respectively.
Both hospitals rated among the bottom five in the state for use of physical restraints against older adults in mental health units during 2020-'21.
However they were the top two in Victoria for use of mechanical restraints in adult mental health units, with no reported usages.
The VMIAC report showed general improvements at both hospitals in adult mental health units, but concerns in the older adult sector regarding the levels of seclusion and restraint use.
"Ballarat Base Hospital was the worst regional hospital for seclusion and showed a consistently poor performance in this area," the report stated.
"They have failed to meet targets in 14 out of the last 16 quarters. However, we acknowledge that their overall rate this year decreased.
"We hope this heralds a change in practice at the service.
"Warrnambool Base Hospital has the highest reported use of physical restraint [for older persons' services].
Mental health in your inbox
Get a selection of the best mental health content from across the ABC by subscribing to our monthly newsletter
'Greatest hour of need'
VMIAC CEO Craig Wallace said restraints and seclusion are still allowed under the Victorian Mental Health Act (2014), but the royal commission recommended such restrictive interventions be eliminated from Victoria's mental health system over the next 10 years.
"We're greatly concerned that people's human rights are being breached when they go to hospital in their greatest hour of need, and instead get these punishing interventions used against them," Mr Wallace said.
"We think that [10 years] is way too long for the elimination of these really harmful practices."
He said Grampians Health and other organisations had been touch with VMIAC to discuss the context around the statistics in the report.
"We welcome those discussions and we know that there's a story behind the data," Mr Wallace said.
Hospitals respond
Grampians Health's mental health services operations director Mark Thornett said Ballarat Base Hospital was working to implement every single recommendation made by the royal commission into the sector.
"As outlined in the report, Grampians Health Ballarat has improved across all measures, except one," Mr Thornett said.
A South West Healthcare spokesperson said Warrnambool Base Hospital "will refrain from the use of restrictive intervention whenever possible" and attributed the rise in physical restraint among older adults at the hospital to "consumer-specific requirements".
"While we know that each number represents an individual consumer's experience, it is important to appreciate that the numbers alone do not convey all the factors involved in the use of restrictive intervention," the spokesperson said.
"The use of restraints, and decision-making around the use of physical restraints, is always in line with principles of the Mental Health Act and most recently informed by the recommendations of the royal commission."
