Quiet at the emergency department

The dedicated quiet space will allow some mental health patients to be treated in a safe and private area at the Young emergency department (ED).

Lobbying for the room has been a long-term project for emergency department staff and the $190,000 investment in the room was welcomed by Young's police, ambulance and hospital staff.

The project is a collaboration between NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, the Young Local Health Advisory Committee and Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) nurses, medical practitioners and mental health services and consumers.

NSW ambulance inspector Stephen Pollard said the room will provide a significant advantage for some of the patients that arrive at the emergency department.

"It will now give us somewhere quiet to assess them away from other patients, so we are looking forward to its use,” he said.

Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke officially opened the room on Monday, July 2.

“The room is a comfortable environment for mental health patients who require a quiet space away from the busy emergency department,” she said.

"Young Hospital is to be congratulated on developing a room that has gone beyond its original purpose and is now a comfortable, private space for people with mental health issues as well as other patients who need a quiet environment."

Facility Nurse Manager Belinda Downey said the room will give patients and their families a quiet place to retreat from the bustle of the ED while they seek treatment.

“We thank all the other services and agencies who have worked with us to bring it to fruition,” she said.

Other improvements in the ED include a larger, modernised resuscitation bay, reconfigured store room, upgrade of the closed-circuit television monitoring and security systems.