Patients forced to wait more than 90 hours for mental health bed in Cairns Base Hospital Mental health patients in Cairns are forced to wait more than 90 hours to access a bed. Picture: Generic, Thinkstock. PSYCHIATRIC patients frequently wait days in the Cairns Base Hospital's emergency department (ED) before they can be admitted to a mental health bed - a situation one doctor describes as "unacceptably dangerous." Anaesthetist Sandy Donald, a representative for Together union members, said one mental health patient stayed more than 200 hours in the hospital's ED before being discharged home. Dr Donald has called for urgent Federal Government intervention to rectify the situation. He has released figures to The Courier-Mail showing that, in 2012, only 8 per cent of patients requiring admission to the Cairns hospital's mental health ward were able to access a bed within eight hours of arrival. More than 22 patients last year were waiting for a mental health bed 90 hours after showing up at the ED, the figures show. The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service admitted that mental health patients sometimes spent days in the ED, revealing that, so far this year, nine patients had waited more than 96 hours before being admitted to the mental health ward. "This is unacceptably dangerous," Dr Donald said. The requirements for mental health services often exceed the resources of the health service but the nearest alternative is hundreds of kilometres away. It's very, very clear there's a critical and urgent need for more funding and more beds immediately. I don't see how you can claim a service is working when mental health patients are commonly spending several days in the emergency department. Things are absolutely desperate up here and that's the nicest thing you could possibly say. Dr Donald said four emergency department staff required medical attention themselves this week after a "disturbed" patient became violent. He said ED medical officers had identified the need for aggressive behaviour management training but the Cairns and Hinterland HHS had said it could not afford to replace doctors to allow them to attend the four-day course. Dr Donald was commenting after Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Queensland branch chairman Dan Siskind warned that "critical incidents" involving mental health patients might rise as a result of budget cuts. Cairns and Hinterland HHS acting CEO Robin Moore admitted that due to an increasingly high demand on the Cairns hospital's mental health ward, patients waiting for a bed could "often wait for a number of days" in the ED. "We acknowledge this is unacceptable but our dedicated staff continue to provide the highest quality care under the most difficult circumstances," he said. The Cairns and Hinterland HHS provides the highest quality mental health services to the level at which we are funded. Mr Moore said an extra 10 mental health beds would open at the Cairns hospital late next year, increasing numbers to 50. He said a forum was planned for September 12 to discuss mental health issues affecting the region.