Arabic version: تسمانيا تخطط لإعادة أسرّة الصحة النفسية في نوفمبر

According to ABC News, most mental health bed capacity at Tasmania’s North West Regional Hospital is set to return in November after a fire closed the region’s only public inpatient mental health clinic. The 19-bed Spencer Clinic has been shut since it was damaged last month in an alleged arson attack.

Health Minister Bridget Archer said 10 rooms at the clinic will return to service next month. Repair work is under way for a four-bed high care unit and a six-bed acute inpatient unit. The government also plans to make five additional beds available on the hospital campus in coming weeks and will continue renting three beds at the neighbouring North West Private Hospital.

Mental Health Lived Experience Tasmania chief executive Tash Smyth praised the Health Department and frontline workers for continuing care in the north-west. She said the closure could prompt consideration of a different model of care, noting the interim arrangements will include sub-acute beds separate from high-dependency beds, which were not previously available at Spencer Clinic.

Health and Community Services Union state secretary Robbie Moore welcomed the interim measures but said capacity concerns remained. He said removing private beds from availability in the north-west could push patients into the public system, which he said did not have the capacity to manage them.

A replacement 22-bed mental health unit at the hospital is expected to be completed in the first half of 2028. The $40 million facility was promised during the 2021 election campaign and was originally expected to be finished in 2025. The government has announced a building contractor, with work on site due to begin as soon as next week.