7 | Health Services RECOMMENDATION 24: Given the very high mental health morbidity, the Government and Department must ensure out‑of‑hours mental health clinicians are available to respond to mental health crises either in person or by telehealth if it is not practicable to have them on site. RECOMMENDATION 25: The Government should establish and resource an independent body to monitor the provision of mental health services in immigration detention. 7.10 COVID-19 response The Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) recognises that: Correctional and detention facilities are challenging environments and carry additional risk for COVID-19 seeding and transmission and outbreak management, compared with the wider community. This is due to the close living environment, the challenges of security requirements, the physical and mental-health vulnerabilities of detainees, and inflexible infrastructure.89 Figure 10: HCA smoke room/outdoor area During the inspection, the Commission observed that the risk of COVID-19 had been managed relatively successfully at YHIDC, without any serious medical morbidity. The Commission was told that the centre was prepared to activate an outbreak management team if cases reached a certain number and that a positive relationship had been developed with the state Department of Health which was overseeing the state-wide pandemic response. The centre had adopted risk mitigation policies including the requirement for staff and visitors to wear masks within the compounds or visiting area. Both staff and visitors were also required to be double vaccinated and, up until 12 May 2023, everyone was required to undertake daily rapid antigen testing before entering the centre. The centre was largely unaffected by the prolonged pause on social visits that most other centres experienced. However, wider border closures in Western Australia restricted interstate visits. At the time of the inspection, around 60-65% of people detained at the centre had been vaccinated. 48