News

Hollywood Clinic expansion meets COVID-19 mental health demand

Oct 21, 2020

Patients seeking day programs to treat eating disorders and substance abuse are leading a surge in demand for mental health services at one of WA’s biggest private mental health facilities.

Hollywood Private Hospital Chief Executive Officer Peter Mott said a major expansion of Ramsay Health Care’s Hollywood Clinic had been completed in May - just in time to meet the growing need for mental health services driven by the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Mr Mott said without the opening of the Fenwick Day Unit at Hollywood Clinic, hundreds of patients with serious mental illness could have been left struggling to find much-needed treatment in a suitable day facility.

“Being able to remain in the community connected to families and loved ones is a major reason our day hospital programs are so popular, as people can get the care they need while staying connected with their support networks,” Mr Mott said.

“In the context of COVID-19, so many people are already feeling disconnected and isolated. The Fenwick Day Unit has the capacity to treat 120 patients every day and has been a much-needed resource to address these types of concerns without requiring people to be admitted to the hospital.”

Mr Mott said it anecdotally, new patients attending the day hospital had sometimes been struggling with a disorder for many years and had been prompted to seek help as a result of worsening symptoms triggered by stressors associated with the pandemic.

“There has always been demand for these types of services but there has definitely been a spike as a result of COVID-19.”

Ramsay Health Care has a long history in the area of mental health services with its first clinic established by Founder, the late Paul Ramsay, in Sydney in 1964.

Since then Ramsay Health Care has grown to be the largest provider of private mental health services in Australia operating 23 mental health units across the country with more than 1000 beds. 

Ramsay Health Care is in in the final stages of a $200 million expansion at Hollywood Private Hospital, which includes a $67 million Emergency Department project that will see Hollywood open the first purpose-built private ED north of the river, expected to be completed in September next year.