Authors: Special Care Suite
Year: 1994
Event: 1994 TheMHS Awards
Subject: Gold Award Winner 1994
Type of resource: TheMHS Awards
Award state: NSW
Award level: Gold Award
Award category: Innovative Part of a Comprehensive Service
Abstract: The Special Care Suite is a two bedded inpatient unit, situated on the medical ward of Broken Hill Base Hospital. Managed from the community by staff of the Far West Mental Health Service, it provides inpatient treatment for clients in this isolated rural region. Furnished like a motel suite, the unit is only opened when required, and is then staffed by general nurses employed on a casual basis and trained by far West Mental Health Service staff. The suite is economical with an $80,000 establishment cost, and costs between $35-40,000 to staff per annum. Lengths of stay average 80 hours and transfers to distant psychiatric hospitals have been dramatically reduced. The suite provides a model for inpatient treatment for rural Australia, that is not only economical but effective and valued by clients.
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