WorkSafe ACT visits Dhulwa mental health unit, Minister Emma Davidson says safety is improving

WorkSafe ACT visited the unit on August 21, having received at least one complaint expressing concerns for patients and staff.

A 2022 inquiry into the 17-bed locked facility was launched following claims of violence against health workers.

The unit is for people with complex mental health issues, some of whom have come into contact with the justice system.

However, the locked facility was not a jail, and implementing recommendations had made it safer "for everyone", Ms Davidson told the ACT Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

"While Dhulwa is a complex environment and operates as a secure facility, it is not a corrections facility," she said.

The inquiry was commissioned following allegations of violence against staff working at the mental health unit.

It was led by former Fair Work commissioner Barbara Deegan and found the standard of care at Dhulwa was well below expectations, patient and treatment procedures were unclear and dysfunction between staff contributed to a toxic work culture.

The review said the model of care at the Symonston facility was unclear and uncertainty about security arrangements had contributed to safety concerns.

Ms Deegan made 25 recommendations for improvement and Ms Davidson provided an update on the recommendations to the Assembly on Thursday.

Recommendations included ensuring independent oversight, hiring staff with "lived experience", reducing exclusion and restraint, enhancing clinical oversight, reducing the influence of security staff, and implementing an incident management process.

Staff should also be trained in human rights, ethics and privacy, the review said.

The commissioner also recommended Dhulwa improve nurse capabilities, develop contacts with forensic mental health professionals in other jurisdictions and adopt a trauma informed care model.

Ms Davidson said the work of staff from Canberra Health Services was helping make the mental health facility safer.

"Dhulwa is on its way to becoming a safer and more appropriate environment for everyone at the facility," she said.

The minister said the program at the unit had been updated to include at least 25 hours of activities across seven days of the week.

She said this had made patients less aggressive.

"Providing a range of activities for consumers at Dhulwa, including on weekends and during holidays, is an important step that provides better opportunities for rehabilitation and helps to avoid the boredom and frustration that can lead to aggression," she said.

"Not only have these steps improved the quality for consumers at Dhulwa, but they have also made it a safer place for everyone."

Ms Davidson also said the model of care for the unit had been clarified as staff were unclear about whether the facility was only for people convicted of crimes or not.

"It is not a corrections facility and will not operate as such," she said.

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"As the model of care clarifies, Dhulwa 'is fundamentally a therapeutic setting underpinned by contemporary, evidence-based, multidisciplinary mental health care to the highest quality of person-focused care which enables recovery of a person's mental illness which played a functional role in the offending or difficult behaviour'."

Canberra Health Services confirmed to The Canberra Times WorkSafe had visited the unit once in the three months to September 21.

WorkSafe ACT declined to comment.

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