Benambra electorate
Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (14:45): (1034) My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. The information I seek is the number of admissions to the adolescent mental health unit at Box Hill from the Benambra electorate district in the 2024 calendar year. There are no adolescent mental health units in regional Victoria. Young people in the 15 to 24 age bracket have to travel to Melbourne for admission. For us that is Box Hill. They are generally very unwell, and the transport needs to be secure – either ambulance or divvy van – further adding to their anxiety. They are away from family, friends and support networks and the cost is horrendous, the emotional toll obvious and the financial impost on health services and family significant. That is not to mention the morality of having that young person sitting in emergency at Albury Wodonga Health during an acute episode sometimes for hours on end.