After standing together and committing to take action, Members working at Bentley Family Clinic (part of CAMHS) achieved a commitment directly from the Minister for Health and Mental Health, Meredith Hammat, that the clinic will reopen in the Bentley catchment area.
The clinic closed in late September due to its current location becoming unavailable. Despite two years’ notice that the clinic would need to move, no suitable alternative site was arranged in time by CAMHS, and the clinic closed, with staff and patients dispersed to other locations. Members had to fight hard and appealed to the Minister for a guarantee that it would reopen, to provide accessible mental health services to patients and their families in critical need (it is a Tier 3 service).
Importantly, the Minister came and listened to staff concerns prior to the clinic closing and made the commitment directly to staff that it would re-open.
While the Minister would not commit to a time frame for the return of the service to the area; Members will be able to hold CAMHS and the State Government accountable to their promise that the closure is temporary and the clinic will be re-established in the Bentley catchment. We wish our Members well as they join other community clinic teams during the temporary closure of Bentley.
