The WA Government will deliver a new community mental health step up/step down service – a first of its kind to open in regional Western Australia – for Albany.
Mental Health Minister Roger Cook today announced the Mental Health Commission and the WA Country Health Service would establish a new community mental health step up/step down service, at the old Albany Hospice, which is expected to open later this year.
The six-bed facility will improve the options available for people with mental health issues and their carers in the Great Southern region by helping more people to recover within their community and close to personal support from family and friends.
The service will provide residential support and individualised care for people on a short-term basis and is tailored for people discharged from hospital for a mental health issue, or where an admission to hospital can be averted by intervening earlier.
The WA Government is taking steps to enhance the range of services for people with mental health issues and deliver quality health care to regional Western Australians.
To help prevent the need for hospital admission and to support people after they have been discharged from hospital, other mental health step up/step down services are in the early stages of establishment for Karratha, Bunbury, Broome and Kalgoorlie.
For more information about mental health step up/step down services, visit http://www.mhc.wa.gov.au/stepupstepdown