Hospital given ultimatum over delay in creating children’s crisis beds

The state government has given Northern Beaches Hospital an eight-week deadline to get its paediatric mental health unit back on track, as children in crisis continue to have nowhere to go more than a year after the hospital received $7.5 million for the project.

The funding was given in June last year to help create a four-bed mental health intensive care unit for children and adolescents, following campaigning by grieving father Andrew Gill, whose son Joshua, 14, died after a series of systematic failures at the hospital meant he could not access the support he needed.

Following the Herald’s revelations last week that the unit was still not open, Health Minister Ryan Park was asked in question time on Wednesday what the government was doing to address the delay.

“I’m advised that the Minister of Mental Health [Rose Jackson] has now met with staff from the Ministry of Health, plus the CEO of the Northern Beaches Hospital. She’s made it clear that the NSW government expects in six or eight weeks time, a clear plan as to the implementation for this unit and exactly why there have been delays in this unit,” Park said.

Park acknowledged that “nothing has been done and that’s a concern”, and added it was “a fair expectation” from the community that they receive the services promised and funded.

The local federal MP Dr Sophie Scamps has called for the resignation of Northern Beaches Hospital CEO Andrew Newton if the beds are not rolled out by Christmas.

The hospital refused to answer the Herald’s questions when asked why the unit had not been created.

The Northern Sydney Local Health District said a specialist youth psychiatrist had been employed at the hospital in the past 12 months, but would offer nothing on a timeline.