Waratah's Wayne Barrett has called for the NSW government to boost mental health funding for acute care, amid concern about a lack of beds in the public system.
Mr Barrett questioned whether the government understood the gravity of the situation.
"I imagine ministers and MPs are generally all in private healthcare and have very little interactions with the public system beyond cutting ribbons," he said.
The AMA [Australian Medical Association] released a damning Public Hospital Report Card for mental health on Thursday.
The report said mental health beds in NSW public hospitals fell from 2768 to 2618 from 2016/2017 to 2021-2022.
Over this period, there was "a rise in mental health presentations to emergency departments".
In Hunter New England, these presentations rose from 12,579 in 2012/13 to 15,368 in 2022/23.
Yet only 5995 people were admitted to hospital for a mental health condition in 2022/23.
The AMA report said mental health patients were "waiting longer to be seen" in public hospitals.
More patients with mental health-related conditions were arriving at emergency departments by ambulance or police services.
And more were arriving in a critical condition needing urgent care.
The Newcastle Herald reported last week that Mr Barrett said the Mater Mental Health Centre at Waratah was overrun, under-resourced and at times lacking compassion.
Mr Barrett, who spent three weeks there across April and May this year, said "the place is crumbling".
"When I was there, there were people sleeping in the corridor waiting for a bed."
In a letter to Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery this week, Mr Barrett said he had lived with mental health issues for more than 40 years.
This included acute care stays "about every six years to stabilise and change medications".
"I have never witnessed the acute care and post acute care support service in such a state of dysfunction," he wrote.
Ms Hornery said in a statement that she was "sorry to hear about Mr Barrett's experiences".
"I want to ensure that our health facilities provide the best level of care possible," she said.
"I have made representations on his behalf to the Minister for Mental Health to raise it for her attention."
NSW Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said she too was "sorry to hear about Mr Barrett's experience".
"This is certainly not how I would want anyone engaging with our mental health system to be left feeling," Ms Jackson said.
"Since being made aware of this, my office has been in touch with Hunter New England Health, who advised they had liaised with Mr Barrett and apologised for this experience.
"I understand the facility has taken on Mr Barrett's feedback as a part of their commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare and acting on consumer feedback.
"I will continue to liaise with the district and the local member to express my expectation that all mental health care and services delivered to patients are appropriate and compassionate, without exception."
AMA (NSW) president Dr Kathryn Austin said public hospitals were "under enormous strain as demand continues to grow".
"But we know that long waits in bright, busy, noisy emergency departments can be incredibly distressing for mental health patients.
"Many emergency departments are not physically designed to ensure the safety of patients experiencing acute suicidal ideation."
The Newcastle Herald has backed a Black Dog Institute campaign for the expansion of Safe Havens to take pressure off emergency departments.
A parliamentary inquiry into mental health care in NSW, released in June, recommended the Safe Haven program be made a 24/7 service.
Newcastle's Safe Haven is open only three days a week for five hours a day.
Dr Danielle McMullen, AMA President, said the "lack of specialised mental health beds is emblematic of the public hospital logjam".
On average, patients with mental health conditions waited seven hours in emergency before being admitted to hospital in 2022/23, an increase of 37 minutes from the year before.
Mr Barrett said he waited 10 hours before being admitted to the Mater.
