From ctvnews.ca
The IWK Health Centre is asking hospitals across Nova Scotia to manage youth within their own districts, because they say its mental health centre is operating over capacity.
The Garron Centre provides child and adolescent mental health acute inpatient care for children and youth up to 19 years of age.
Last Thursday, the centre entered Code Census.
The IWK says there hasn't been a Code Census in the Garron Centre since April, but wasn’t able to tell CTV News how long it lasted.
“It means that it's operating in fact at a little bit over capacity,” says Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine.
In an internal memo the IWK stated: “We request that individual hospitals within the provincial health authority take whatever steps they possibly can to manage youth within their own district until our acuity level and census decreases to manageable levels."
The IWK says there hasn't been a Code Census in the Garron Centre since April, but wasn’t able to tell CTV News how long it lasted.
The centre says it is still taking emergencies.
“They would still take those who are in trauma, those adolescents that need immediate emergency mental health care that remains available,” says Glavine.
Glavine says Code Census is in part because of back to school stress, but the official opposition says it highlights the fact the system is in crisis.
“It seems to be one of those times when our youth are making adjustments; they can be in a new school, a totally new community,” says Glavine.
“The minister's wrong. The government does not have a handle on this. At least today they can admit that there is a problem,” says Nova Scotia Progessive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie. “Now our emergency rooms are going to be full of people who are in mental health crisis, our hot lines are going to be backed up; counselling is going to be backed up.”
Read more here