Doctors, nurses and administrative support staff will be recruited to run the unit which will comprise 20 beds.

Making up the unit will be an additional 40 beds, however these beds will be part of a rehabilitation program.

All doctors nurses and other staff working in the unit will need to be security trained as part of their employment.

Greater Western Area Health Service told the Central Western Daily it could not provide any details of camera systems or other security devices which may be included in the unit as the planning process for security was still underway.

NSW Nurses Association representative for GWAHS Linda Griffiths says the union hasn’t yet sat down with the health service to discuss any issues of safety relating to nurses working in the unit.

“We have been working very much on the ‘now’ issues facing us in this area of staffing levels across all hospitals,” Ms Griffiths said.

“However, our members can be assured that we will ensure everything is done to ensure their safety which will be in their best interest.”

Patients who stay in the unit will be long-term clients and people who GWAHS says are relatively stable in terms of their mental illness.

“They will be people who are transitioning and preparing to return to their own communities,” a GWAHS spokesman said.

“The unit will assist that process by offering vocational training and education and rehabilitation.”

Ms Griffiths said the Orange model would work in a similar way to the existing units at Bunya and Morriset mental institutions.

She said when the building process for the forensic mental health unit was further along, negotiations would begin over staff training and other issues.

Ms Griffiths is meeting this week with GWAHS to start work on planning for staffing across the health service.

l The Health Services Union, which represents members employed at Orange Base Hospital and other hospitals in the Greater Western Area Health Service, expects to be in the region for two weeks sorting out issues over staffing levels.

Health Services Union representative Gerard Hayes told the Central Western Daily he met with GWAHS management in Dubbo yesterday and will now start the process of reviewing the data given to him which could impact on jobs for the union’s members.