A health and safety review is underway on a high-needs mental health unit at Hillmorton Hospital after staff have been bitten, hit, and injured while restraining patients.
Mental health services general manager Toni Gutschlag said since January, there had been 11 ACC workplace injury claims for staff working in the unit – one of which resulted in 61 days off work.
“We are extremely concerned about the number of people being injured at work and the injuries they are sustaining.” Ms Gutschlag said it prompted a health and safety review of the unit, which began last week.
“We are confident this review will give more clarity to the issues and possible mitigating strategies.” The secure unit provides treatment for people with “severe behavioural disturbance” and those receiving compulsory care.
The other was for a muscular strain from restraining a patient, resulting in 61 days off work.
Three staff had 10 days or less off work, and four needed between 18-35 days off.
Ms Gutschlag said the CDHB was also planning an extension of the unit in a bid to make it safer and easier to respond to individual patient needs.
“Staff were recently able to view a cardboard mock-up of the proposed extension to the unit, which includes patient living and lounge areas.
Their feedback is currently being collated,” Ms Gutschlag said.
It came after statistics showed between January 2014 and October 2016, there were about 1000 physical assaults recorded at the unit.
Evidence from the NHS Digital study in England shows the rise has been driven by an increase in women with illness.
Undoubtedly some of it is down to people being more willing to report and admit mental health problems.
While 23% of NHS activity is taken up by mental illness, mental health trusts have been receiving only about 11% of funding in recent years.
But as common as antidepressants are, the fact remains the majority of people with mental illness report they are not getting help.
In fact, it says, there’s been a “startling rise” in the number of patients being sent out of area for treatment, a rise of nearly 40% between 2014-15 and 2016-17 to 5,876 adults.
But now the use of police cells is down – at least in England and Wales, though figures in Scotland suggest it may have gone up.
They sometimes have to cut or gain significant weight in a short period of time.
They get concussions, and later in their lives, many of them suffer long-term consequences from it.
When we set out to create a Mental Health Issue, we sought to cover all aspects of mental health within the realm of sports at Penn.
But depression isn’t the only mental health issue we’ve sought to cover.
To be clear, there are many teams with strong, cohesive internal cultures, and there are many student-athletes who make it through four years at Penn without having their lives grind to a halt as a result of mental health issues.
They deserve the chance to start a conversation about the factors that made their collegiate careers so difficult, a conversation that can help prevent future athletes from having the same problems.
By denying student-athletes the chance to speak on subjects integral to their college experiences, Penn Athletics denies them the chance to enjoy progress in their state of health and wellness.
Penn’s administration realized this and initiated a Campus Conversation.
The first step to solving any problem is acknowledging that there is one.
Penn Athletics can do this at any time — if only they will allow a light to shine upon it.
Review underway to stop assaults at mental health unit in Christchurch 26 Oct, 2017 3:25pm 2 minutes to read A health and safety review is underway on a high-needs mental health unit at Hillmorton Hospital after staff have been bitten, hit, and injured while restraining patients.
The review comes as the Canterbury District Health Board is planning an extension to the Assessment, Treatment and Rehabilitation Unit to make it safer.
Mental health services general manager Toni Gutschlag said since January, there had been 11 ACC workplace injury claims for staff working in the unit – one of which resulted in 61 days off work.
Gutschlag said it prompted a health and safety review of the unit, which began last week. “We are confident this review will give more clarity to the issues and possible mitigating strategies.”
The secure unit provides treatment for people with “severe behavioural disturbance” and those receiving compulsory care.
CDHB statistics show 10 of the workplace injuries were the result of “being hit, struck or bitten by a person”.
The other was for a muscular strain from restraining a patient, resulting in 61 days off work.
All of those were the result of “physical assaults”. “Staff were recently able to view a cardboard mock-up of the proposed extension to the unit, which includes patient living and lounge areas.
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The toll this takes on families and the costs to taxpayers are staggering.
But a national Initiative called Stepping Up Ohio is working with counties to assess those with serious mental illness and treat them or refer them to the appropriate facility.
Delaware County Jail is one of a couple in Central Ohio that screen people arrested to divert those with severe mental illnesses to treatment facilities instead of a jail cell.
Delaware and Franklin County officials said they have incorporated the Stepping Up Initiative Ohio to avoid those type of mental health horror stories. Volpe spoke before hundreds of Ohio county employees and his experience and the initiative.
“When people who are mentally ill get in jail they get worse, and I have sheriff after sheriff say they take 90 percent of their jail resources,” said Stratton.
“Since then, that was 10 years ago, I have not gotten into trouble, I have played an active role in the community and I am now a current employee of the Dade County Court,” he said.
Franklin County jails have also been assessing and treating individuals where officials say 37 percent of all inmates in their jail have mental illness.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has also been in the forefront in training Crisis Intervention Training CIT, for deputies and correction officers.
