Mental health capacity hit by fire restored next month, government says

Tasmania's health minister says most of the North West Regional Hospital's (NWRH) mental health capacity will be restored in November, after a woman allegedly set fire to the region's only public inpatient mental health facility.

The 19-bed Spencer Clinic at the NWRH has been closed since the fire damaged part of the building last month, prompting concerns about mental health services in the region.

Health Minister Bridget Archer said 10 rooms within the clinic will be brought back into service next month, with repair work underway to deliver a four-bed high care unit and a six-bed acute inpatient unit.

Ms Archer said an additional five beds will be made available on the hospital campus in the coming weeks, and the Health Department will continue to rent three beds at the neighbouring North West Private Hospital.

Mental Health Lived Experience Tasmania chief executive Tash Smyth praised the Health Department and frontline workers for their work to continue to deliver mental health care for people in the north-west.

The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) has also welcomed the measures but said there are still issues to work through, including the flow-on effects from losing beds from the private system.

Advocate urges rethink on care model

Going forward, Ms Smyth said the closure of the Spencer Clinic had provided an opportunity to reconsider how mental health care is provided in the region.

"Spencer Clinic was a very traditional acute inpatient model. There are better ways of doing things," she said.

"Yes, it's a shock. You think … we've lost 19 beds. But did we need those 19 beds, or do we need a different type of service to address the needs of the community?"

Ms Smyth said the interim arrangements will include sub-acute beds separate to high dependency beds, which weren't previously available at the Spencer Clinic.

"There will always be people in the community that do need a hospital setting … but is there a different way that we can do this? And sometimes it takes a crisis to get us to start thinking creatively about a more contemporary model of care," she said.

HACSU state secretary Robbie Moore said the response to the fire had been positive, but the system still had capacity issues.

"We are welcoming that they do have some interim arrangements that will mean there will be hospital beds available for people on the north-west," he said.

"What they're not dealing with is that by taking the private beds out of being available on the north-west, those patients are likely to then end up in the public system. 

"And we don't have the capacity to deal with that."

Wait continues for new unit

A new 22-bed mental health unit to replace the ageing Spencer Clinic has been in the pipeline for several years.

The $40 million dollar facility was first promised by the Liberal government during the 2021 election campaign.

At the time, then-premier Peter Gutwein said the project would be finished in 2025.

More than five years later, construction still hasn't started.

The government last week announced the building contractor for the project.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the contractor is due to start work on site as soon as next week.

"Construction is expected to be complete in the first half of 2028, and we will continue to work with the contractor to expedite works where possible," the spokesperson said.