The Health News – 21 April 2017

Overview:

• The Government has accepted all six recommendations of a review of the Oakden facility by chief psychiatrist Aaron Groves, which was sparked by the alleged overdosing of former resident Bob Spriggs. The Government announced eight staff had been stood down, 21 staff had been reported to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and three incidents had been referred to police.

• On Tuesday it was revealed Central Adelaide Local Health Network interim chief executive Len Richards had quit after only two months in the job. “There is a pattern of people either leaving after a very short time or being asked to leave,” the AMA’s SA president Dr Janice Fletcher said.

• The federal Health Department has warned that the number of people likely to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme for mental health services has been underestimated by about 30,000, putting the program on track for a cost blowout of nearly $1 billion. “The number of people with a primary psychosocial disability who meet NDIS eligibility criteria may be higher than the Productivity Commission estimates predict, placing cost pressures on the scheme and the commonwealth,” the Health Department submission says.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  21st of April 2017. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/controversial-oakden-mental-health-facility-to-be-shut-down/8457928

A South Australian Government-run nursing home for vulnerable dementia patients will be shut in the wake of allegations of mistreatment.

The Government has accepted all six recommendations of a review of the Oakden facility by chief psychiatrist Aaron Groves, which was sparked by the alleged overdosing of former resident Bob Spriggs.

Mr Spriggs was also found with bruises, thought to have been caused by the inappropriate use of restraints.

The Government …announced eight staff had been stood down, 21 staff had been reported to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and three incidents had been referred to police.

Some of the staff members stood down were in management positions, with Dr Groves taking aim at the facility’s culture, saying “the fish rots from the head down”.

The Government said residents would be transferred to alternative mental health or aged care facilities over the coming months.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/ama-wants-answers-following-sa-health-leadership-turmoil/8455826

SA Health has admitted it recruited the “wrong people” to leadership positions after the Australian Medical Association (AMA) questions the “revolving door” of staff during a time of “immense change” within the public healthcare system.

On Tuesday it was revealed Central Adelaide Local Health Network interim chief executive Len Richards had quit after only two months in the job.

Mr Richards was appointed to replace previous CEO Julia Squire, who was sacked in January following an industrial dispute with the nursing union.

At the time, SA Health said Mr Richards would continue until after the opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH), which is now only weeks away.

“There is a pattern of people either leaving after a very short time or being asked to leave,” the AMA’s SA president Dr Janice Fletcher said.

“SA Health has to have a good hard look at itself and understand why this is happening. It’s very unsettling for medical, nursing, allied health professionals and the public to have a revolving door of senior leaders.”

Mr Richards is among at least six health executives to depart SA Health in the past two years and cited family reasons for his decision to return to the UK.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/health-department-warns-of-1bn-ndis-mental-blowout/news-story/b2c12edca7e65ddf29e6a0e557a4d315

The federal Health Department has warned that the number of people likely to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme for mental health services has been underestimated by about 30,000, putting the program on track for a cost blowout of nearly $1 billion.

Health Department deputy secretary Mark Cormack, in a damning submission to a Productivity Commission inquiry into the NDIS, said the scheme was likely to attract 91,916 people for mental health services compared with the official forecast of 64,000. The over-run threatens to leave the scheme greatly underfunded or at risk of failing to meet demand.

The department’s assessment places it at odds with senior officials in the $22bn NDIS, who … [this week] were claiming there was no evidence of incorrect modelling in the prevalence of psychosocial disability.

The Australian revealed unpublished state government data that indicated a blowout in the number of mentally ill but the Health Department is the first government agency, federal or state, to question the modelling publicly. “The number of people with a primary psychosocial disability who meet NDIS eligibility criteria may be higher than the Productivity Commission estimates predict, placing cost pressures on the scheme and the commonwealth,” the Health Department submission says.