Push to reduce use of restrains on North East mental health patients

The Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council examines the use of the seclusion, mechanical restraint and physical restraint of patients at Victorian public mental health services.

The council's chief executive Craig Wallace said the use of seclusion and restraints was traumatising for patients.

A Royal Commission last year recommended seclusion and restraints be stopped within 10 years.

"Seclusion and restraint are now well-recognised as traumatic and as human rights breaches," Mr Wallace said.

"These practices also carry the risk of serious physical injury, even death.

"They have no place in a safe, therapeutic, rights-based health system.

"Plans are underway to eliminate seclusion and restraint from Victoria's mental health system, but our position is that the 10-year elimination timeframe is far too long."

The report, the third of its kind, found the Wangaratta hospital has the most consistently low use of physical restraints of patients in regional Victoria.

Physical restraints are considered to be "hands-on" control of a person by one or more staff, while mechanical restraints involve the use of straps or other devices to restrict movement.

Seclusion is a form of solitary confinement.

The report found the Kerferd Clinic in Wangaratta was the fourth best in the state for avoiding the use of mechanical restraints on patients, and fourth best for minimising the use of physical restraints.

The council measures the rate of restraint use based on every 1000 occupied bed days at services across Victoria.

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Wangaratta ranked 10^th out of 23 services for the use of solitary confinement, using confinement about a third as much as the worst performing service.

Mr Wallace said the reports provided an insight into the use of practices which he said were harmful to patients.

"We also create these reports because we believe that Victorian public mental health services should be held accountable for their use of seclusion and other restrictive practices," he said.

"These practices breach our international human rights and often cause serious mental, emotional, physical and cultural harm.

"It's our view that transparency and accountability are sadly lacking in Victorian mental health services."

While Victorian residents use Nolan House in Albury, the report did not consider the Albury data due to the service being in NSW.

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