In an exclusive interview with the Leader Hunter New England Executive Director of Mental Health, Brendan Flynn, revealed that when completed the "better Banksia" will not include any new specialist youth health beds at all.

The Leader exclusively revealed in January that the clinical services plan - the primary planning document behind Banksia - included no new beds or services for young people, only seniors.

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Dr Brendan, himself a psychogeriatrician, defended the forecast that the region would not need any new general purpose or young person's mental health beds before 2031.

He said Banksia tends to see only about one or two patients under the age of 18 on an average day.

"I'm confident that on the data that we've got access to, when we wrote the plan, that it is the right number of both beds and - probably equally important - community clinicians for that time period," he said.

"But every plan has the capacity to be flexible if circumstances in any community significantly change.

"Banksia is being built with an view to be there for a long time. Those figures are not lightly calculated, they are serious, purposeful calculations of how many beds that community needs in that time period. It's done with all the best information we can gather."

Better Banksia advocate Di Wyatt - who was drawn into the fight by her own granddaughter's unmet need for adequate and dignified local mental health care - said many young people, including her granddaughter, go without the correct treatment for mental health problems because the city's only permanent child and adolescent psychiatrist works just a day a week or so, is overworked, and is the only specialist in the area qualified to prescribe some drugs.

Hopes were high that an announcement last Friday, that a donation from JobLink Plus announced by Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson as a $1.5 million boost to youth mental health services in a new three-bed "unit", could mean change. Mrs Wyatt cried at the news.

That will not happen, Dr Flynn said.

First of all, the area will contain just two beds

Nor are they "new" beds; both come out of the existing 25 beds already provided in the current Banksia unit.

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What Dr Flynn called a "pod" will house mentally ill children and other vulnerable people for as long as 72 hours, in a segregated section of the new Mental Health Unit away from other patients.

One benefit is that it will save children a pointless journey down to the Nexus unit in the John Hunter Hospital in the first throes of a mental health crisis, which might quickly subside and lead to them being discharged in Newcastle.

Dr Brendan said there is no intention of setting up a child and adolescent unit in Tamworth, and said there are enough services at Nexus.

"Tamworth does need child and adolescent psychiatry services and it has them. What it doesn't have is a dedicated child and adolescent unit. In the same way that the district has to decide that neuropsychiatry services for example can't be safely provided in multiple locations. You could make a similar argument for other sub-specialties in psychiatry like perinatal psychiatry," he said.

"That doesn't mean that neuro or perinatal services are not provided in Tamworth. It just means the district is centering its resources to be efficient and safe in one unit. And in this case, we're talking about the Nexus unit that is in Newcastle."

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Mr Anderson said the Joblink Plus donation was a "great contribution" to Tamworth's mental health care.

"The community expressed a need for short-term mental health care for children, adolescents and the vulnerable in our region and it is great news that Tamworth will now be receiving the segregated beds needed to provide the most vulnerable in our community with the care they need," he said.

A spokesperson for Joblink Plus told the Leader the pod will be purpose-built as a short-stay area for young people, will contain an ensuite, a small lounge and dining area that can double as an activity table. It will also have its own courtyard, separated from the unit's main courtyard.

Asked if they were concerned HNEH had taken their money to offset spending it might have made anyway and save taxpayer cash on the project, the spokesperson did not directly respond.

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"Joblink Plus has been working closely with Hunter New England Local Health (HNEH) District to ensure our recent donation is used in the best way to support young people in our community," she said.

"We are very excited to see this dedicated pod being developed to needs of local children, adolescents and vulnerable people."

A spokesperson for HNEH said the $1.5 million donation would go to constructing the new pod area.

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