Northern Hospital Melbourne: Teen girl left shackled to a bed for 12 days and forced to wear a nappy after frightening mental health episode
- Teen strapped to bed and forced to wear nappies
- Her mother has called out her treatment
A 16-year-old girl was left strapped to a public hospital bed and wearing a nappy after a terrifying mental health episode.
The young girl was kept in leg and wrist restraints in Melbourne‘s Northern Hospital in Epping, in Melbourne’s north, for 12 days because there were no mental health beds available.
Staff at the hospital were forced to restrain the girl after she attacked 10 nurses, leaving one concussed.
Doctors had injected her with blood thinners because they were concerned she might get blood clots from being immobile, the girl’s mother claims.
A 16-year-old girl was shackled to a hospital bed and forced to wear nappies at The Northern Hospital in Epping, in Melbourne’s north
The teenager’s hair was also left matted in knots following the crisis.
The girl’s mother said the length of time her daughter was shackled to her hospital bed while waiting for a spot at a high dependency youth mental health unit was ‘inhumane’.
‘I feel sick that my daughter is capable of such violence,’ the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, told News Corp.
The mother said she understood the need for restraints for the safety of staff and her daughter.
‘Despite this, it felt inhumane,’ she said.
The teenager was restrained while waiting for a spot at a high dependency youth mental health unit (Pictured: The Northern Hospital in Epping)
Last financial year Australian public hospitals recorded 1,522 mechanical restraint events in which items such as belts and straps were used on a mental health patient to stop them moving freely.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) found that there had been a 40 per cent reduction of available mental health beds per 100,000 population in the last 30 years.
The association’s Public Hospital Report Card – Mental Health Edition showed a drop in the number of available public hospital beds for mental health patients, as rising numbers of more severely ill patients present to emergency departments.
The AMA revealed last November that despite up to one in five Australians experiencing mental health issues, they are being routinely failed by the system.
The AMA has called for urgent attention to the mental health care system and public hospitals.
For anyone needing support:
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Help Line 1800 55 1800
