The Sydney Mental Health Client Mortality Audit: what does it tell us and what are we to do?

Objectives: To examine the characteristics of those mental health clients of an Australian metropolitan health service who died during a 6 year period, 2005 - 2010.

Methods: The medical records, and where available, coronial post-mortem examinations were audited for 109 people with schizophrenia who died while they were clients of the mental health service.

Results: The mean age of death for men was 45 years and for women, 47 years, compared to the general population's male and female life expectancy of 79 and 84 years, respectively.

An Acute Recovery Unit: the first 18 months.

Objectives: To describe a new type of acute inpatient unit, the Acute Recovery Unit, at the Concord Centre for Mental Health, Sydney and to report patient characteristics and outcome data for the first 18 months of operation.

Methods: The mission, values, principles of care and operation of the Acute Recovery Unit are presented, including the lessons from a review of the first 18 months of operation. The specialist assessment procedure, academic detailing and range of specialist interventions are described.

Expansion of a medical emergency team system to a mental health facility.

Background: Clinical emergency response systems such as medical emergency teams (MET) are used in many hospitals worldwide, but the effect that these systems have in mental health facilities is unknown. This study examined the rate and nature of MET calls to a mental health facility that had relocated to the campus of a tertiary referral hospital.

Methods: This study was a prospective, observational study of MET calls to a newly constructed 170 bed mental health facility.

The Concord Centre for Mental Health's new 'phase of illness' model of care: are we on the right track?

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide an overview of a new 'phase of illness' model of care after relocation of Rozelle Hospital to the new purpose built Concord Centre for Mental Health and discuss its implementation and progress thus far.

Method: One year after relocation, staff were asked to provide feedback of their views of the new model of care in order to identify implementation barriers and ways forward.

Results: The new model has clear benefits for the consumer, but there are a number of practical challenges and dilemmas emerging that necessitate some refinement and evaluation.