Psychiatry and Behavioural Science

Services We Offer

The Department consists of a 36 bed inpatient unit, an outpatient department, Occupational Therapy facilities, a dedicated psychiatric consultation-liaison service, Self Harm Intervention program, Alcohol and Drug Liaison Officer and a community mental health nursing service. It is a voluntary unit providing both general and specialist adult psychiatric services in a purpose-built building. The Department utilises the multidisciplinary team approach to assessment and treatment of patients. A comprehensive therapeutic program is provided for inpatients, with a limited number of programs available to outpatients.
An emergency psychiatric service is provided for the Emergency Department and all other hospital wards. The Emergency Psychiatric service consists of a Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychiatric Registrar. This is a 24-hour service.
In our relationship with other services we do not endeavour to develop all the services required for long term care of patients, or to duplicate community resources. Most patients are referred to the appropriate community mental health clinics, non-government organisations, or other services in their region. A Departmental Community Mental Health Nurse assists in facilitating the transfer of the patient to community services. Other departmental staff provide outpatient services in collaboration with the Community Mental Health Nurse for up to six weeks post-discharge. Longer term out-patient service is provided as necessary.
The Psychiatric Consultation Liaison service currently consists of two 0.5 FTE Consultant Psychiatrists, two Psychiatric Registrars and a Senior Psychiatric Nurse. The other allied disciplines provide assessment and management support as necessary. Other departmental consultant psychiatrists provide service as necessary. The service provides specific psychiatric cover of the following departments: Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Gastro-enterology, Hepatology, Diabetes, Pain Management, Dermatology, ENT, Ophthalmology, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Palliative Care, Nuclear Medicine, Haematology, Renal, Urology, Respiratory Medicine, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pulmonary Physiology, Immunology, Vascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Medicine, CCU, Neurology and Neurosurgery. The department provides cover for General Medicine, General Surgery, Infectious Diseases, Orthopaedics, Plastic Surgery and the Emergency Department via “the team of the day” (On-call emergency Psychiatric team).

A Psychogeriatric Liaison Team also operates with a 0.5 FTE Psychogeriatrician, a fulltime psychiatric registrar and a mental health nurse.

The Self-Harm Intervention Project (SHIP) has been in operation since February 1995. The Health Department as part of their State Clinical Health Goals and Targets Programme has provided funding. Its aim has been to specifically identify and intervene early with all deliberate self-harm patients. The Project Team consists of a Senior Psychiatric Social Worker and a Senior Psychiatric Nurse/Social Worker utilising 1.6 FTE. They provide short-term counselling and support until patients are linked to their longer-term community follow up. Other functions include liaison with hospital staff, general practitioners, and community agencies to facilitate the continuity of care and encourage adherence with contingency plans and follow up. Demographic and clinical data is collected for each occasion of service.

Occupational therapy programmes provide a comprehensive assessment and intervention package addressing the individual needs of both inpatients and outpatients. A diverse combination of activity (craft, woodwork, pottery, art, cooking, domestic skills etc.) and psychotherapeutic interventions are offered. Deficits and intervention needs are identified via multidisciplinary team liaison and assessment, with occupational therapy assessments supplementing such via activity of daily living, independent living, vocational capability and other skills assessments. Group interventions address stress management, depression, anxiety, mood swings, time and leisure planning, communication and interpersonal skills, symptom phenomenology and understanding etc. Computer facilities are available for patient health education, vocational training and computing skills training. The Occupational Therapy Department has been successful in implementing a collaborative hydrotherapy programme with the Physiotherapy Department. Strong emphasis is placed on referring patients to the appropriate community agencies and vocational opportunities.

The Psychiatric Nursing Staff are primarily involved in inpatient assessment and management. . A departmental community mental health nurse assists in the admission and community reintegration processes. A dedicated Staff Development Nurse provides educational and professional development. Ongoing nursing education within the Department is encouraged and is provided for by the Clinical Nurse Consultant, Clinical Nurse Manager and a recently appointed fulltime Staff Development Nurse and through association with a further two major universities. As a teaching hospital there is extensive involvement in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses for nurses.

The Clinical Psychology Service has three half-time senior clinical psychologists, each being allocated to an inpatient team as well as running an outpatient service, responding to ward consultations and being involved with research. All are also involved in the Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Programme. Clinical Psychologists provide a comprehensive psychological and psychometric assessment service, with individual therapy as appropriate.

The Social Work Department provides assessment and intervention primarily for inpatients. Individual, relationship and family assessments and intervention are provided. The social workers are attached to the three in-patient teams. The SHIP Programme, Men’s group (in collaboration with nursing staff) and the Family Connections Programme are successful endeavours. Family Connections provides a workshop format interactive educational programme for the family and significant others of patients. Multidisciplinary departmental staff contribute to this programme. A Welfare Assistant provides assistance with financial, accommodation, and disability issues.

There is an active Quality Improvement Committee. Data is collected and analysed in accordance with the Clinical Indicators described by the Australian Council on Health Care Standards (ACHS).

Referral Source

Patients are referred to the Department from general practitioners, private psychiatrists, psychiatric community clinics, emergency psychiatric services and other departments within the Hospital.

Department Contact Details

Main office:
D Block, 1st Floor.
Phone: 61 8 9346 2100
Fax: 61 8 9346 2082

Staff

Department Head

The Department Head is Dr Carolyn Graham. She has an interest in liaison psychiatry and has considerable administrative experience in Mental Health Services.

Education and Research Activities

There is a close relationship with the University of Western Australia School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, headed by Professor Osvaldo Almeida. University staff are involved in the clinical, educational and research activities of the Department. Teaching, supervision and training is provided for all members of the multidisciplinary team. Undergraduate and postgraduate training is provided for medical students, psychiatric registrars, and students in nursing, clinical psychology, occupational therapy and social work.

Regular weekly Continuing Medical Education presentations are provided for all departmental staff. Multidisciplinary involvement in these presentations is actively encouraged and followed. Consultants participate on MOPS groups and all medical staff have monthly quality improvement meetings. Consultants deliver presentations within the hospital’s interdepartmental academic programs, the RANZCP registrar training programme, General Practitioner education, public education etc.

Research

The Department is involved in research in the areas of clinical drug trials, psychology, suicide, epidemiology, heart-link monitoring, alcohol and drug comorbidity, depression, dialectical behavioural therapy, carer education, and other aspects of mental health.