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Mental Health Policy: A positive beginning in Helping to solve a State-wide problem
AMA Victoria President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, today welcomed the Labor promise of an extra $105 million dollars (over 4 years) for mental health services saying that it showed signs of an increasing awareness of the urgent need to fix a system that was becoming severely over-burdened.Dr Haikerwal said the Labor pledge of 100 new psychiatric beds would be particularly well received as it will bring Victoria into line with the national average for acute and sub-acute care facilities.
“What we are seeing in the Labor policy is an admission that mental services do desperately need to be improved and more importantly we are seeing evidence of an encouraging commitment to make this a priority” said Dr Haikerwal.
Commenting on the Opposition strategy for mental health services, Dr Haikerwal said he was happy that the Liberal party had not only accepted the Auditor-General’s report about mental health, but had also acknowledged that there was a difficulty in accessing help in many areas.
“The funding commitment by the Liberal Party of an additional $2 million a year to fund these policies is presumably only a starting point, it will get the ball rolling, but much more will be needed” said Dr Haikerwal.
Whilst Dr Haikerwal was pleased with mental health services being put on the political agenda he did issue a word of caution to both parties, suggesting there is still a lack of understanding as to what types of services are needed, such as medium and long term in-patient care for those with mental illnesses. This is the unequivocal message we get from clinicians.
“There is no question that these policies will make a difference when it comes to the care of Victoria’s of people with mental illnesses, but the fact is there will still be long way to go.”
“For instance, it is essential that an effective workforce plan is developed. To succeed this will require consultation with all clinicians, including those in private practice.”
“Mental Health will continue to be an extremely high priority for AMA Victoria in the foreseeable future. These new polices are taking us in the right direction, so we look forward to working with whoever wins Saturday’s election to develop a mental health service which is accessible to all Victorians and of which we can be proud” said Dr Haikerwal.
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