A spike in “very complex” presentations justifies a fivefold increase in physical restraint use at a major children’s hospital, says the NSW Minister for Health.

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead employed physical restraints on patients 64 times between January and March, compared with 11 occasions in the same period last year, according to the NSW Bureau of Health Information’s quarterly report. 

In contrast, the report said the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, used physical restraints fewer than five times in the same period despite recording five times more presentations for acute mental illness than the hospital at Westmead.

Professor Ian Hickie, a former National Mental Health Commissioner, told The Sydney Morning Herald that the figures should prompt a review of the Westmead hospital’s practices “as a matter of priority”.