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Mental health services at crisis pointThe Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, is preparing a case to the State Government seeking a reallocation of funding to overcome a continuing chronic shortage of mental health services in Gippsland. By Kevin Balshaw - 12th May 2009 - Back to News The Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, is preparing a case to the State Government seeking a reallocation of funding to overcome a continuing chronic shortage of mental health services in Gippsland.
The state budget last week provided some extra funds for mental health, but Mr Davis says not one dollar of the increase will be spent east of Dandenong.
This, he says, leaves Gippsland short of acute care beds in hospitals to treat emergency cases, short of triage services, and short of community based care and public accommodation for people with mental illness.
Gippsland’s mental health advocacy service, Barrier Breakers, is receiving an increasing number of calls of desperation for people refused hospital care despite needing urgent treatment—people who in the main are on the verge of a suicide attempt.
The organisation has also documented a severe shortage of community based care and the most meagre provision of accommodation for people with mental illness in Gippsland.
Yet Mr Davis said even Barrier Breakers, a volunteer organisation previously provided with basic operational funding, is out of cash and no longer able to pay a part-time employee to run its office and take calls. The former employee is now working without pay in the hope some funding will be found soon to maintain the service.
Mr Davis is also seeking clarification of an array of conflicting and confusing figures on mental health funding in the state budget papers and from statements by Mental Health Minister Lisa Neville.
"The budget and Ms Neville have referred to $84 million being provided over the next four years for new mental health measures, including early intervention and coordinated health and social care," he said.
"Treasurer John Lenders was even more expansive in the budget speech to Parliament, with an undertaking to invest $182 million in mental health services, although he did not specify over what period.
"From the experience of people in the mental health field, the Government’s summary of key budget measures may be closer to the truth where it refers to the spending of $24 million over four years for new mental health services.
"This last figure represents a token $6 million a year spread across a population of more than five million when the historical evidence shows us that one in five Victorians will experience mental illness at some point in their lives."
Mr Davis said his discussions with Barrier Breakers’ Chief Executive, Derek Amos, and calls to his electorate office from community workers indicated people suffering severe mental illness, particularly those with associated drug or alcohol problems, were as likely to end up in a police cell as to receive the acute care they so desperately needed.
He said the shortfall in services to treat mental illness in country areas of the state was worse than in Melbourne, and Gippsland was worse off than other areas of country Victoria.
Mr Davis said Government policy and funding had also been misdirected—towards mental illness rather than mental health.
"Studies by non-government organisations such as the Mental Health Foundation of Australia have highlighted the importance of preventative programs incorporating awareness and resilience building for young people," he said.
"People in their mid-teens to early 20s are at the highest risk of any age group of falling prey to mental illness, but it is leaving it too late to wait until it happens. It is important for children from their earliest days at primary school to be made aware of the pitfalls and trained in the life skills that will help them to cope."
• To obtain information on Barrier Breakers or assist in its work, visit www.barrierbreakers.org.au or phone 5174 4588.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kevin.balshaw@parliament.vic.gov.au
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