Thursday, 28 August 2025

Latrobe Valley mental health services

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (17:14): (1292) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Mental Health in the other place, and the action I seek is for the minister to have a meeting with local mental health practitioners and me down in the Latrobe Valley to discuss the dire need for more acute inpatient mental health care services for the Latrobe Valley. As Gippsland’s main acute mental health care provider, Latrobe Regional Health is overwhelmed and under-resourced for the volume of mental health presentations it receives. LRH’s 2023–24 annual report confirms there is a mental health crisis in the Latrobe Valley and, alarmingly, only 36 per cent of mental health patients presenting to the ED were offered a bed within the clinically recommended 8 hours – down from 53 per cent the year prior. Despite the establishment of a $10 million emergency department mental health hub, LRH is failing to meet the service targets and is the worst performing public hospital in the state in terms of meeting mental health community services targeted hours.

This is not a reflection on the hardworking staff or hospital management but a symptom of chronic underfunding, under-resourcing and neglect from the Allan Labor government. Our local health professionals work tirelessly to achieve the best outcomes for our community, but they are fighting with their hands tied behind their backs, and many valley residents are suffering in silence. The Latrobe Valley LGA has the third-highest rate of prescription dependence for mental health conditions in the state, yet many go undiagnosed and untreated because they simply cannot access the care they need. The 31 beds available at LRH for acute inpatient mental health care are woefully inadequate. The extra six beds offered for the onsite mental health hub do not go close to addressing the critical need for more inpatient services. Labor’s closure of the Latrobe Health Assembly and subsequent defunding of mental health initiatives like Live4Life and the WES will only increase demand for acute mental health care and exacerbate this issue facing LRH. LRH is not equipped to shoulder any more of this burden. The hospital and its hardworking staff need help, and they need it in the form of more funding and more beds for inpatient mental health services. What we need is an expansion to the mental health unit at LRH, and nothing less will cut it.