A clinical nurse at Queensland's largest hospital has come forward as a whistleblower to highlight how the system is failing some of the state's most vulnerable mental health patients.
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00:00 Nat Carmichael is a clinical nurse at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Queensland's
00:06 largest hospital.
00:07 The 65-year-old works in the psychiatric emergency centre, which is located in the hospital's
00:13 emergency department.
00:15 He says years of frustration over the dire state of mental health services at the hospital
00:21 has prompted him to come forward to highlight how the system is failing the state's most
00:25 vulnerable.
00:27 He says the hospital's 87-bed mental health unit is suffering such severe bed block that
00:32 acutely unwell adult patients, some of whom at times are distressed or aggressive, have
00:37 to be placed in other hospital wards or with teenage mental health patients.
00:42 In one extreme case, a woman needing urgent mental health care was left waiting eight
00:47 days for a bed.
00:48 Mr Carmichael said on one Saturday night earlier this year, eight patients were in the unit
00:53 overnight, resulting in people sleeping on the floor and couches.
00:58 We have patients now who are waiting days on end before they're able to be admitted
01:04 to the ward.
01:06 We have patients who are classified as an HDU patient, that is patients who have got
01:12 high needs, that usually need one-on-one time with a staff member.
01:17 We've got patients who are just patiently waiting, having to deal with nurses, dealing
01:23 with patients who are very unwell.
01:26 We're having patients who require admission to be treated underneath the Mental Health
01:30 Act, staying in our department simply because there are no beds.
01:35 The service, I believe, is failing because it's not providing the need for those patients.
01:41 They're being placed on alternative wards.
01:44 We've got eight patients now on a medical ward.
01:47 We've got adult patients in an adolescent ward.
01:51 We've got adult patients in the drug and alcohol ward.
01:55 This is simply because the bed capacity at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital isn't
02:01 coping with the needs.
02:03 Mr Carmichael says he has raised concerns with management in emails over the past few
02:07 years but felt the issues hadn't been addressed.
02:10 In a statement, Metro North Mental Health Executive Director Catherine Turner said any
02:14 claims of a patient not having a bed is taken seriously.
02:18 She said Metro North Mental Health understands it is not ideal for patients to have to wait
02:23 for admission to a bed when demand is extremely high and alternative bed arrangements may
02:28 be made at times.
02:30 The hospital has 75 adult beds and 12 adolescent beds in its mental health unit.
02:36 The number of beds has largely remained unchanged for decades.
02:40 This is despite staggering population growth in Queensland and a surging demand for mental
02:46 health services.
02:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]