For Patients and Visitors
What can I expect from the service?
Our Inpatient Unit provides assessment and treatment to older adults during an acute phase of mental illness, until recovery enables them to be treated in a community-based setting. You are the most important person in your mental health care team.
If you are able to make decisions for yourself, members of the team will work in partnership with you in making decisions about your care. Working with the team will help you achieve your highest level of recovery.
Your mental health care team includes:
Medical staff
Your doctors (Consultant Psychiatrist & Psychiatry Registrar) will supervise your overall recovery program and will diagnose your condition and prescribe suitable treatment, including medications.
Nursing staff
Nursing staff are on duty 24 hours a day. They will provide you with both physical and mental health nursing care. If a problem arises, they will ensure it is dealt with by the appropriate person in the healthcare team.
Social Worker
The social worker will work with you, your family/carer and other supports to address various social and emotional issues, including legal, financial, accommodation, family/relationship, social support, and personal empowerment issues. Social workers will also arrange meetings between you, your family and the healthcare team (called ‘family meetings’) to discuss your recovery process.
Occupational Therapist
The occupational therapist focuses on how your illness and admission impacts on what you want to, need to and have to do. An occupational therapist can support your return home by assessing how you manage looking after yourself, how you complete your home tasks, or how you connect with your community.
Psychologist
The psychologist can assist you by talking through issues regarding your thinking, behaviour and mood. The psychologist can help you to implement strategies to improve the way you feel and function in your life.
Case Manager
If you have an Older Adults Assessment & Treatment Team case manager, they will keep in touch with you while you are an inpatient. Your case manager will also be involved in planning your discharge from the Unit. If you do not case manager already, you may be allocated a case manager to support you when you leave hospital.
What do I bring/need for my appointment? [if relevant]
List what the patient needs to bring for their appointment, such as Medicare card, an accurate list of medications, and the name and clinic address of your GP etc.
What to bring to hospital
- Comfortable day clothes
- Nightwear
- Low heeled, well-fitting, non-slip footwear
- Toiletries
- A small amount of money for minor purchases (e.g. coffee, newspaper)
- Aids and devices (please advise nursing staff if you have dentures, hearing aids, mobility aids or falls prevention aids)
- Medicare Card; Repatriation File Number if you are eligible for Department of Veteran Affairs’ entitlements; Full details of your health insurance cover (if you have cover)
- Any current medications must be handed to the nurse in charge on arrival
What to avoid bringing to hospital
- Valuables, such as jewellery or large amounts of money
- Alcohol or non-prescribed drugs
- Sharp objects such as scissors, files, etc (these must be handed to the nurse in charge)
- Plastic bags (the Unit is a ‘plastic bag-free’ zone)
- Any type of scarf, shawl, wrap or pashmina
- Food from home
Family/Carers
Your family/carer and friends are also an integral and important part of your mental health care team.
Your family/carers may be invited to participate in the care planning and discharge planning for you. In most cases, a meeting will be held in the early stages of your admission, in order to share information and to develop a care plan.
Later on, there will be a meeting to prepare for your discharge from hospital. Family/carers may contact any of the team to discuss issues or concerns at any time.
If there are a large number of family members, we ask that you nominate someone to be the primary contact.
Contact us
To make a referral, contact our Triage service on 1300 874 243 (1300 TRIAGE).
For other enquiries:
Older Adults Mental Health Inpatient Unit
Kath Atkins Ward (KAW)
Bundoora Centre
1231 Plenty Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Telephone (03) 9495 3165
For Health Professionals
Our Inpatient Unit provides assessment and treatment to older people during an acute phase of mental illness, until recovery enables them to be treated in a community-based setting.
The Older Adults Mental Health Inpatient Unit primarily serves the needs of the northern and north east regions of metropolitan Melbourne and is located in Bundoora. An Older Adults Assessment and Treatment Team works alongside the Unit and provides community follow up.
Inclusion criteria:
Older Adults Mental Health services are specialist mental health services provided to individuals with existing complex mental illness and those who develop a mental illness later in life. Many people admitted to our Inpatient Units, at least in the early stages of an admission, are under the care of the Mental Health Act 2014.
How to Refer:
To make a referral, contact our Triage service on 1300 874 243 (1300 TRIAGE).
Enquiries:
Older Adults Mental Health Inpatient Unit
Kath Atkins Ward (KAW)
Bundoora Centre
1231 Plenty Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Telephone (03) 9495 3165
- Locations offering this service
- Bundoora Centre
