Children in adult wards, 27-hour emergency waits: the mental health crisis in NSW

Long wait times, a shortage of hospital beds and rising demand for adolescent care have left NSW mental health services in a “constant state of crisis”, the sector says as it begs the Minns government for an urgent review of funding.

“Across the state, we are seeing mental health services stretched to their limits, the mental health workforce is burnt out, and people who need help are falling through the cracks.” Between January and October in 2023, 208 young people were treated in adult mental health units in NSW, according to questions on notice published following a budget estimates hearing late last year.

Sarah, who is using a pseudonym to protect her child’s identity, waited 27 hours with her suicidal teenager in a major Sydney emergency department in 2021. Since 2022, the Victorian government has imposed a 0.5 per cent mental health and wellbeing surcharge on employers with taxable wages of more than $10 million, and 1 per cent on employers with taxable wages of more than $100 million. The additional levy raised $912 million in 2023-24.

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