Mental Health Minister Helen Morton told Radio 6PR on Thursday that an "unusual and complex situation" with a patient at Graylands psychiatric hospital had forced six beds to close.
This caused a "knock-on" crisis at Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner hospitals' emergency departments, where 20 mentally ill patients were now waiting for beds.
Fairfax Media has received the following comment piece from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.
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I can't stress enough how the mental health system is skewed to allow suffering, but hoping this story will tell you.
My brother is in hospital for perhaps the 12th time in a year, but almost certainly a higher number.
This time, it's because he had a seizure brought on by alcohol abuse. He can't walk and is suffering seizures every few hours because of his acquired brain injury.
In the past, he has refused to take his epilepsy medication. Next week it might be an overdose on the opiates his doctors have prescribed him, or it might be another seizure brought on by a massive alcohol intake.
Or a suicide attempt, or an assault.
He still believes that this isn't caused by alcohol, yet it precipitates almost every hospital visit.
Why is he so at risk of all these medically dangerous afflictions and actions? Because of his mental health, and the system's refusal to administer care, even when he asks for it. Although he's stopped asking now, as the fact that he has epilepsy has given him a card to play, and lie with.
I have been there when he has shown up for a family lunch, red-faced, dirty and talking to a person who isn't really there.
I have been on the receiving end of phone calls where he tells me he is about to jump in front of a train (spoiler alert: the police don't care and didn't ring me back about this for 45 minutes).
I have had my brother "committed", for lack of a better word, only to have the police drop him off at hospital, where they give him more drugs and send him home under his own care a few days later. On this occasion, it was only a few weeks before a friend found him facedown and vomiting in a park after overdosing on those pills.
He has been in and out of rehab, mental facilities (as a day patient, they don't like to "commit" – a little joke...) lock-up and regular old hospital for years now. He has never been satisfactorily diagnosed - epilepsy is a new one, and we can't even be sure of that - and has never been offered something that he needs, like being placed in a care facility.
He cannot look after himself, he has no knowledge of how to pay bills or get a job, and he is functionally illiterate - he decided to leave school before year 10 and my parents said they couldn't control him.
He is quick to anger, and has a teenager's tolerance for bad or even slightly disappointing news. Thus, he is the victim of assault more often than anyone would believe. He can't let anything go, including alcohol and bad friends who egg him on or laugh at his misfortune. He self-harms by tattooing his body with dangerous homemade instruments.
He is an adult. So much of what I know about him and his life are limited. I cannot come with him to a doctor's appointment, I can't confine him to a room when he's having an episode and I can't cope with the fact that any day, I expect a call from someone telling me he is dead.
I have tried to help him with accommodation, which almost broke up my relationship. I have tried to help him with money and new clothes as he only ever has what he is wearing.
My mother is in no shape to help, as she has her own debilitating medical issues. My father passed away earlier this year from a similar thing. But if I was a terrible person and bet on it, I never would have bet he would be the one to go first.
Caring for my brother means a life of danger and sadness. It seems full-time care is the only option, but in this case it would be a torture to him anyway. He can become violent and unresponsive and has friends also with substance abuse problems ("good guys" according to him) who he invites over to your house without thought of whether they are welcome.
I've stepped away from being able to help, as I know when I'm beaten. I can't afford to sacrifice my own mental health and livelihood helping someone who cannot be helped, someone who no longer wants help. I have put my life on hold for too long.
I've called doctors and police and there is no service, doctor or institution that can or will help. Why does every person turn him away? Why is it OK to put him back on the streets to hurt himself and others?
He is not a stupid person. He can enjoy life, has been happy but is now sad, frustrated and sick, and is at the end of his rope, almost literally.
I can't be expected to deal with this for the rest of his life, then dwell on it for the rest of mine. My sister and I have worked hard for a long time just to have what little we have.
What I do want is an answer: why are mental health facilities left completely wanting here in Australia, land of fabled, amazing healthcare and plenty?
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
