Hospitals and psychiatric institutions
XX
The number of office-based medical specialists for child and adolescent psychiatry who
have a contract with public health insurance offices should be increased in all Laender
in light of the rising nationwide demand.
XX
The care mandate of the psychosomatic sections of paediatric wards should be clearly
defined by separating it from treatment reserved for child and adolescent psychiatric
wards.
2.2.6
Deficits in regional inpatient psychiatric care
The NPM already pointed out deficiencies in regional inpatient care for
persons with psychiatric diseases in Styria and Carinthia in its Report 2016
(p. 59 et seq.).
Centralisation in Styria
In Styria, inpatient psychiatric care is centralised in Graz. Affected persons
are thus isolated from their normal surroundings. The caregivers have to
spend a considerable amount of time traveling in order to be able to visit
the affected persons, which is often an irregular occurrence. Furthermore,
in acute situations, time-consuming patient transfers from the outskirts of
Styria to Graz are often necessary, causing patients a considerable amount of
additional stress in what is already a difficult situation.
According to the Regional Health Care Structure Plan for Styria 2025 however,
the concentration of psychiatric inpatient care in the Graz area is to remain
unchanged as a matter of principle. Only at the Hochsteiermark Regional
Hospital in Bruck an der Mur a psychiatric ward including accommodation
area is to be set up.
Furthermore, the range of psychiatric services in the Graz metropolitan area
will be reorganised. The Elisabethinen Hospital in cooperation with the Hospital
of St. John of God in Graz (Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder) under the
name “KA Graz-Mitte” will have a psychiatric ward with a predominant focus
on geriatric psychiatry.
The NPM believes that the planned opening of a psychiatric facility at the
Hochsteiermark General Hospital in Bruck an der Mur should be implemented
as quickly as possible in order to at least make a first step towards regional
inpatient care. Consequently, a third location at the very least with acute beds
including accommodation should be set up in Upper Styria. The transfer of
beds should also free up capacity in the Graz Süd-West/Standort Süd General
Hospital where the existing confined space makes it difficult to care adequately
for the patients.
Inadequate area for
hospitalisation of
mentally ill persons
56
A similar problem still exists in the Department of Psychiatry and
Psychotherapeutic Medicine at Villach Regional Hospital. The lack of space
caused by the inadequate building structure and the lack of a sufficiently
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