{"id":901751,"date":"2026-09-22T21:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901751\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T21:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:42:15","slug":"perth-childrens-hospital-mental-health-beds-ama-wa-calls-for-reversal-of-decision-to-cut-capacity-at-ward-5a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901751\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth Children\u2019s Hospital mental health beds: AMA WA calls for reversal of decision to cut capacity at Ward 5A"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Carla<\/p>\n

September 23, 2026 \u2014 3:00am<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Western Australia\u2019s peak body for doctors has called on the government to reverse the \u201cruthless\u201d decision to cut beds from the state\u2019s only inpatient mental health unit for children under 16, warning the system is already operating \u201cbeyond capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n

It comes after this masthead revealed <\/a>Perth Children\u2019s Hospital ward 5A, the state\u2019s inpatient mental health facility for children and teenagers under 16, would reopen with 16 beds instead of 20, once its refurbishment was complete.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian Medical Association WA president Dr Kyle Hoath has urged the government to consult doctors before permanently removing the beds. Australian Medical Association WA<\/p>\n

Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Kyle Hoath, who is a psychiatrist operating from Subiaco, urged the state government to consult clinicians before any permanent changes were made.<\/p>\n

\u201cWard 5A is a tough unit, and it\u2019s absolutely run at capacity. It\u2019s operating beyond capacity,\u201d Hoath said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe move to reduce beds is completely at odds with the reality of what clinicians and families are experiencing on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extraordinarily concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Kyle Hoath<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there are families presenting to PCH seeking urgent help who cannot access an inpatient bed because capacity is already stretched.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KateKate Savage died by suicide after multiple presentations to PCH in 2020. <\/p>\n

The announcement of the renovations followed longstanding issues, including the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl by another patient<\/a> in the unit in 2022.<\/p>\n

Hoath said figures provided to this masthead by the Child and Adolescent Health Service, which showed the ward had operated at about 60 per cent capacity over the last four years, were \u201cmisleading\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Kate<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are counting beds as available that are actually left empty for children trialling overnight leave,\u201d Hoath said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf their leave doesn\u2019t go to plan they have to return. Presenting these beds as available risks creates a misleading picture of actual capacity within the service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meron Savage, whose daughter Kate, 13, died by suicide in 2020,<\/a> said she had received an overwhelming response from families since speaking to this masthead about the planned bed cuts.<\/p>\n

Kate\u2019s death prompted a review by WA\u2019s chief psychiatrist<\/a>, which found the child and adolescent mental health system had failed to keep pace with demand and children were being admitted to other hospital wards when specialist mental health beds were unavailable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve received a huge response from people in the community over the weekend who have been sent home from the emergency department without being admitted,\u201d Savage said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd others who were sent home after a very short admission and were still extremely unwell and suicidal.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAHS has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Crisis support is available from Lifeline 13 11 14<\/a>, and Beyond Blue <\/a> 1300 22 4636.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"CarlaCarla Hildebrandt<\/a> is a journalist with WAtoday. She previously worked on ABC\u2019s Four Corners and as a court reporter at The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. For secure contact: carlahildebrandt@proton.me.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 23, 2026 \u2014 3:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":["post-901751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}