Australia’s first Psychiatric Alcohol and Non-Prescription Drug Assessment (PANDA) Unit has opened at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney to provide specialist care to patients experiencing drug or alcohol-related psychotic episodes.
Minister for Mental Health, Bronnie Taylor said the $17.7 million six-bed unit was funded by the State and SIRENS (Supporters In the Resuscitation of Emergency Department Needs at St Vincent’s).
“This new unit will enable more people living with addiction and complex mental illness to be treated in a specialist environment where they can begin their recovery,” Mrs Taylor said.
“The unit has been built next to the St Vincent’s Emergency Department (ED), so that clinicians can draw on the expertise of the Mental Health, Clinical Pharmacology and Alcohol & Drug team,” she said.
Mrs Taylor said the PANDA unit would support the frequently busy ED, where a prolonged stay could overwhelm people who were intoxicated or experiencing a psychotic episode.
Director of St Vincent’s Emergency, Paul Preisz said the new unit would also provide streamlined care to patients who were detained involuntarily under the Mental Health Act and required short stay observation, assessment, and treatment planning before being to transferred or discharged.
“Our new specialist PANDA team will provide a safe and quiet space to better assess and treat these patients, with the aim of developing a more robust framework prior to discharge,” Associate Professor Preisz said.
