Deaths of 10 young people put eastern suburbs mental health services on alert

Two youth suicide clusters in Melbourne’s east involving the deaths of 10 people, the youngest aged 13, have raised new concerns about Victoria’s troubled mental health system.

Youth mental health services in the east were put on alert in response to rising teenage tragedies over nine months, but Victoria’s health watchdogs have failed to launch a review to determine if there are any systemic issues or access issues at the heart of the cases.

A total of 10 young people, including at least six children under 16, died in September-October last year and May this year.

The mass tragedies are the latest revelations regarding Victoria’s youth mental health system to emerge during an investigation by The Age, and follow the closure of a children’s mental health service at a major Melbourne hospital this month pending a bullying investigation into its staff. In parliament on Friday, opposition health spokesperson Georgie Crozier named the service as Austin Health’s child inpatient unit.

Separately, the boss of Victoria’s flagship youth mental health service resigned this month, a day after it was revealed she was leading the Parkville Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Service as a fly-in, fly-out CEO , as reports mount of violence, drug use and patient deaths in its first year of operation.

The state coroner is awaiting briefs of evidence before deciding whether to group the teen death cases together for investigation, or examine each individually.

Victoria’s Department of Health confirmed its youth mental health services provided post-suicide support to the area after being alerted to the rising deaths. But because it does not have records of the children receiving help at public hospitals before they died, neither the Chief Psychiatrist, Safer Care Victoria nor the Suicide Prevention and Response Office are reviewing the suitability or capacity of services in the area.

A mental health specialist working in Melbourne’s east, who is not authorised to speak publicly, said most children and families seeking help via emergency department and phone triage lines did not receive admission to specialised public child and youth mental health services, and they feared lives were being lost as a result.

“There are definitely systemic issues,” the senior clinician said. “How terrible that we weren’t helping them, and they were in this trouble. Obviously, something isn’t working.

“In triage and ED, they reject the majority of kids that present. They reject them because they haven’t got the capacity to see them.