Older Persons' Mental Health Service

"Better mental health for older people"



The Older Persons' Mental Health Service aims to provide the best possible, available treatment for people over 65 year of age, or Aboriginal people over 50 years who are at risk of or are experiencing mental health problems.

Core activities

Our core activities are the prevention and treatment of mental illness, including rehabilitation, occurring in older persons living in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. We provide:

1.  Diagnosis, assessment and mental health treatment and interventions
2.  Inpatient care
3.  Community based care
4.  Support to families and carers 
5.  Specialised Older Persons Psychiatry consultation service
6.  Education
7.  Research

Principles

The following principles underpin our service:

• High quality, ethical and compassionate care.
• Evidence based practice that emphasises planning, evaluation and outcomes measurement.
• Accountability and responsibility to the community we serve.
• Commitment to research and teaching.
• A recovery orientated framework of care.
• Consumer focus and consumer-led care that involves consumers, families, carers, and other service providers in partnerships of care.
• Partnerships with other providers of health related services.
• Equity; consumers are not discriminated against by virtue of race, religion, sexual orientation or other personal attributes.
• Accessible and available community based treatment that maintains persons in their own home for as long as possible.

The Older Persons' Mental Health Service (OPMHS) includes:

• Integrated community and hospital-based, acute and subacute older persons' mental health assessment and treatment programs
• Short - medium term programs directed to rehabilitation, recovery and maintenance of functioning
• Consultation Liaison services to older people under the care of Adult Mental Health Services and the Prince Of Wales Hospital Geriatric Medicine units
• Health promotion and disease prevention
• Clinical academic focus that includes research, training and education

The Euroa Ward is an Older Persons Mental Health Inpatient Unit situated in the Euroa Centre at the Prince of Wales Hospital.

For more information on the Euroa Ward >>> click here

We work as a multidisciplinary team to provide mental health assessments, treatment, care and support to consumers 65 years and older and 50 years and over for Aboriginal people, who are living in the community or in aged care facilities.  

We provide liaison, information and education to health care workers, residential care facilities and non-government organisations involved in the care of older people.

 

Criteria for referral to the Older Persons' Mental Health Service (OPMHS)

The person is aged 65 years or over, or 50 years and over for Aboriginal people, and are resident in the Eastern Suburbs Mental Health Services catchment area and has either:

• A mental disorder presenting for the first time in old age (usually 65 years and over), or
• A relapse of a mental disorder that occurred before the age of 65 and where previous care from adult mental health services occurred two or more years ago, or the person's previous care was in another mental health service e.g. the private sector or another mental health service catchment area, or
• A cognitive disorder with mental health complications such as depression, suicidality, psychosis or severe anxiety.

The Mental Health Access Line is the entry point for mental health support and treatment for people aged 65 and older, in line with NSW Mental Health Triage Policy. Please call the Mental Health Access Line on 1800 011 511.

The Mental Health Access Line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls will be triaged to determine the urgency of response, based on an assessment of risk, distress, dysfunction and disability. The Mental Health Access Line will transfer care to OPMHS if the referral meets the eligibility criteria,

Please consider whether any of the following are a more appropriate service to refer to:

• Triple Zero if someone has attempted, or is at immediate risk of attempting, to harm themselves or someone else.
• Geriatric Flying Squad (GFS) Phone: 0408 855 156, 7 days per week.The GFS is a rapid response multi-disciplinary team which provides comprehensive geriatric assessment and short-term case coordination. The service is for older people living in the community or a residential aged care facility experiencing subacute physical, functional or cognitive decline, such as delirium.
• Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Service (DBMAS) Phone: 1800 699 799 DBMAS is a support service for people with dementia who are experiencing changes in behaviour that impact their care or the carer. The service supports staff and carers in the community, residential aged care, acute and primary care settings with expertise, advice and short-term case management interventions. DBMAS operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week https://dementia.com.au
• Geriatric Services, Prince of Wales Hospital Phone: 9382 0400Persons with cognitive concerns in the presence of multiple medical co-morbidity or complex health issues should be referred to geriatric medicine.

Referrals we do not accept

• Dementia-related behaviour change without an accompanying mental disorders (refer to DBMAS or SBRT instead).
• Neuropsychological assessments for external providers
• Medico-legal or guardianship assessments

For any mental distress, please call the NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511. If life is at risk, please call Triple Zero (000) to receive immediate help.