Coronavirus in Ballarat: Hospital numbers reveal city's hidden mental cost of COVID

During the months of July to September, during the height of the second lockdown, Ballarat Health Services provided more than 15,900 community service hours for mental health patients - 15 per cent more than for the same months last year and 23 per cent higher than the January to March quarter this year before the global impact of coronavirus became apparent.

The number of hours spent with mental health patients was also significantly higher during the September quarter than the June quarter, suggesting the second lockdown had a greater impact than the first and the cumulative effects were profound for many in the community.

"People with mental illness, like anyone else in the population, were reluctant to attend appointments because of fear of the unknown," said BHS director of acute operations Ben Kelly.

"Many of the community support services were not available during COVID lockdown. They were providing a service but remote access that does not work for many of our mental health consumers across the region, so we think that also had an impact on the higher rates of readmission and longer length of stay."

The rate of readmission in to hospital within 28 days of an initial admission more than doubled compared to the same time last year, up from 6.84 to 15.65, and the mental health bed occupancy rate rose more than three per cent to 93.29 per cent.

"Telehealth may not be the right fit for many of these people, so we did see community contact hours increase," Mr Kelly said. We did fear for those who were not maintaining contact that it would lead to a deterioration in their mental health and a need to increase the number of staff providing face to face services in a COVID safe way."

Casual mental health staff, including psychiatrists, were hired to help try to meet demand and Mr Kelly said there was always a need for more skilled mental health professionals in the region.

Mr Kelly said anecdotally there was a higher number of younger people seeking treatment, who were struggling with loss of connection and activities outside the home.

"As much as they've got connection via social media and electronically, it doesn't substitute for close contact without having had school and sports groups."

The Victorian Health Services Report also tracks emergency department and elective surgery performance of hospitals.

Unsurprisingly, emergency department presentations dropped almost 20 per cent to 12,760 patients during the September quarter compared to the same period last year.

While the median wait time for patients across all categories of urgency dropped, Mr Kelly said it was still longer than BHS would like.

"Waiting times are longer than we would like primarily because we continue to operate a respiratory and non-respiratory zone, as is the case in all public emergency departments across the state," he said.

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"It makes management of that area a little more complex involving additional staff on a daily basis because of course we need to be extremely cautious and minimise any potential for transmission."

Since regional restrictions eased Mr Kelly said large numbers of people were now attending the emergency department, up to 170 people a day.

"I can't help but think because of restrictions in the primary care sector, more people are relying on the emergency department which leads to longer waits than we would like," he said.