I had occasion a few weeks ago to spend 24 hours in the ED of a hospital in an Australian city in lockdown. I had taken a close family member undergoing a psychotic episode in for urgent help at 5pm Saturday. We were told the wait would be long as there was only one psychiatrist working. Other were assigned elsewhere due to high demand. It took 6 hours to see a psych nurse and not until 10am Sunday did we see a psychiatrist. During that time, there were no apparent COVID patients, but there were two people with vaccine-related issues. One was a very fit man in his late forties who fronted up to triage with a 'reaction' to a vaccine shot, the other was another similar aged man having chest pains and heart issues. It was 24 hours before my family member was admitted to the psych unit, by this time they had more or less returned to themselves, and I regret not taking then home, given hindsight.
The hospital for some reason thought she had been exposed to a COVID patient in emergency and so despite being a voluntary admission she was put in a padded cell overnight as that was the only room they had suitable for isolating her (psych wards are overflowing these days for obvious reasons). The following day she was released without any plan for following up. It took days to get hold of a script for antidepressants that she was prescribed. It All seemed incredibly dysfunctional. We don't believe there was ever any COVID patient in the ED that weekend as I was never contacted by contact tracers and I was signed in using the qr code system the whole time.
So the mental health and wider health system here appears to be jumping at shadows, mistreating vulnerable people and failing to provide basic standards of care. Avoid at almost any cost, I'd say.
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branchandroot
an AAR from Australia
Date: 2021-09-09 03:23 am (UTC)The hospital for some reason thought she had been exposed to a COVID patient in emergency and so despite being a voluntary admission she was put in a padded cell overnight as that was the only room they had suitable for isolating her (psych wards are overflowing these days for obvious reasons). The following day she was released without any plan for following up. It took days to get hold of a script for antidepressants that she was prescribed. It All seemed incredibly dysfunctional. We don't believe there was ever any COVID patient in the ED that weekend as I was never contacted by contact tracers and I was signed in using the qr code system the whole time.
So the mental health and wider health system here appears to be jumping at shadows, mistreating vulnerable people and failing to provide basic standards of care. Avoid at almost any cost, I'd say.