Status: Delivered
What the Royal Commission said
During the Royal Commission, consumers, carers and healthcare workers called for urgent action to address issues with the current provision of mental health beds. The Royal Commission found:
- the current supply does not meet the demand
- this shortage means that only the most unwell people can access a bed
- hospital stays are getting shorter, and many people are discharged before they can recover
- consumers, carers and the workforce are reporting poor experiences
- consumers have little choice in when and where they can access public mental health beds
It called for a further 170 new youth and adult mental health beds to be located in the north west of Melbourne and the Barwon region.
To reduce the current pressure on the public health system, the new public beds will be delivered in areas where mental health services are currently unable to meet the demand and where populations are predicted to grow.
A smaller number of new beds will be managed through a private hospital and public mental health service partnership. This will create opportunities for new partnerships and models of care while also reducing the burden on the public health system. The recommendation states that these additional public and private beds should:
- be co-designed with people with lived experience
- provide high-quality care
- involve public, private and community health service partnerships.
What have we delivered?
More acute beds
- The Victorian Government has delivered more than 180 new acute public mental health beds, including Hospital in the Home (HITH) beds and expanded access to acute care which is supporting demand management across the system. These new beds include:
- 16 beds at McKellar Centre-Barwon Health
- 30 beds at Northern Health
- 22 beds at Royal Melbourne Hospital - Melbourne Health
- 52 beds at Sunshine Hospital - Western Health
- 35 beds through the Women’s Recovery Network managed by Goulburn Valley Health and Alfred Health
- 29 Hospital in the Home beds at Barwon Health, Parkville Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and Western Health
Specialist Women’s Mental Health Services
- The Victorian Government has also established the first publicly funded Statewide Specialist Women’s Mental Health Service, delivering 35 acute specialist women’s mental health beds through the Women’s Recovery Network (WREN). These beds consist of both Hospital in the Home, and Inpatient care, and are located in both Melbourne and Shepparton.
- WREN commenced operations in 2023 and is delivered through a partnership between Bayside Health (Alfred Care Group), Goulburn Valley Health and Ramsay Health Care, providing gender‑safe, trauma‑informed inpatient care and supporting more than 750 women each year from across Victoria.
- In addition, the Victorian Government has delivered a new women‑only Prevention and Recovery Care (PARC) service with 12 beds, expanding access to recovery‑oriented mental health care in a safe and therapeutic environment designed specifically for women.
What are we doing?
Bed expansion
Delivery of an additional 100 mental health beds across the state is underway including:
- New mental health inpatient units built as part of the New Footscray Hospital and Peninsula University Hospital redevelopments
- 10 HITH beds established at Western Health in 2025-26 and a further 10 HITH beds to be established at Monash Health as part of the 2026-27 State Budget
- 25 mental health beds to be delivered at Melton Hospital
- planning underway for new beds at Shepparton.
Updated