Ramsay Newsroom

The $3 million initiative will see six new inpatient beds provided by Ramsay Mental Health at Northside Group Macarthur Clinic, Campbelltown for youths aged 14 - 24 who may be struggling with a range of mood, anxiety, eating disorders and complex trauma. 

Ramsay Mental Health Psychiatrist Dr Angelo Virgona said it was a very important development which would help young people in South Western Sydney.

“The data over the past 18 months has been extraordinary in terms of the increase in presentations to emergency departments of children and young people with increasingly complex disorders, as well as deliberate self harm. There’s also been a dramatic increase in numbers in psychiatric units in NSW for young people, which we haven’t seen across other age groups,” Dr Virgona said.

“This will be a unique partnership between the public and private sectors to provide assistance to the public sector services through this difficult period. We see this as an opportunity for the development of innovative clinical service models where public and private services partner. Both have strengths and we think this be an important addition to the services available to young people in the south west,” he said.

Director, Ramsay Mental Health Australia Anne Mortimer said she welcomed the new partnership.

“Ramsay Health Care has a proud, 57-year history of providing reliable, high-quality mental health care to Australians, so this partnership allows us to use our expertise to intervene early in the identification and treatment of mental health concerns in adolescents,” Ms Mortimer said.

“We know young people are at risk of significant mood and anxiety disorders and they have a much higher prevalence of eating disorders than the general population, so the sooner we can help them, the better”.

Ramsay Mental Health will work collaboratively with the South Western Sydney Local Health District to ensure smooth pathways into and out of care, to minimise the time that young people with mental health concerns need to spend in emergency departments awaiting care.

Ramsay Health Care is the largest private provider of mental health services in Australia. The organisation operates 22 mental health units in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

With more than 1,000 mental health beds across the country, Ramsay Mental Health treats more than 70,000 patients each year, plus 60,000 in patient attendances.

For more information head to ramsaymentalhealth.com.au