THE announcement of the restructure of the nation’s mental health care system has been welcomed by a prominent local support provider, with hopes accessibility will be one of the key reforms.
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Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley announced yesterday the government would reveal details of the mental health reforms by the end of the year, with the aim of stopping people “falling through the cracks” and with a focus on individual needs.
RichmondPRA New England North West senior cluster manager Jim Booth said top of his wishlist would be a system that was easier to navigate, while offering multiple levels of support.
“A mental health care system that offers lots of stepping stones of support and allows people to access those stepping stones as they need them would be great,” he said.
Ms Ley said yesterday the government wanted to move away from a system she described as “disjointed” and “fragmented”.
“Because of the way that both state and federal governments differently fund mental health, you add primary care, self-care, online help and telephone forums, acute hospital care – we all know, those of us that have experienced the system, that it’s very difficult for a person who’s perfectly well to navigate, let alone a person who’s quite ill,” she said.
Mr Booth said the federally-funded program Partners In Recovery was a good example of what worked in mental health care.
“Partners In Recovery was set up for carers and patients who had been pushing for a more co-ordinated approach to mental health,” he said.
“It allows people to tell their story just once, rather than telling it over and over again to different services.
“We can then help them navigate the health care system and wrap support services around them.
“It’s been quite successful. If Sussan Ley was to expand and enhance it, we would be quite pleased.”
He also hopes under any restructure, there will be an increased use of peer workers, those who have lived experience with mental health issues.
“Just over 40 per cent of RichmondPRA’s staff are peer workers and we are looking to increase that to 50 per cent, so we practise what we preach,” Mr Booth said.
Ms Ley said a review by the National Mental Health Commission found too many people continued “to fall through the cracks”.
“From this review, it was clear that we needed to re-think our approach to mental health, and change the
focus from a service-centred approach to one where services are organised around the needs of the person,” Ms Ley said.