THE Abbott government has been accused of being disingenuous in its commitment to improving mental health services, with state health ministers saying broken funding agreements mean there is now a deficit of trust.
STATE and territory health ministers will work with the federal government on a national approach to mental health, agreeing at a COAG Health Council meeting in Sydney on Friday to develop a coordinated strategy within the next 12 months.
The meeting comes after the release of a major review of Australia’s mental health services, which revealed a chaotic and inefficient system that constantly fails the mentally ill. Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley said on Friday she welcomed the renewed effort among the various jurisdictions to come up with a national mental health plan “that will be lasting”. “We’ve given ourselves 12 months and that’s an ambitious timeframe in which this council will work with its working groups and come back with a national plan,” Ms Ley said. But health ministers from Victoria, Queensland and the ACT have questioned the Abbott government’s commitment to improving mental health services. Qld Health Minister Cameron Dick said his state was happy to work with the federal government but wanted certainty around funding. “The Queensland government is happy to work with the federal government but we need to know where the money is coming from and we need to know that funding base is certain and committed for the long term,” Mr Dick said. Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy suggested there was a lack of trust between the states and territories towards the Abbott government, which has been under fire over billions of dollars in cuts to hospitals. “You can’t go around ripping up agreements with states that fund health services to people in their most vulnerable state, and that is acute mental health services, then expect that the states are going to treat your assertions about wanting to improve services in complete good faith,” Ms Hennessy said. “The commonwealth government have to step up. We need better investment both in community settings and in acute settings, but our experience to date has been every time a commonwealth government have made promises around health funding they’ve ripped them up.” The 700-page report makes 25 recommendations, including diverting $1 billion from acute hospital funding into more community-based and primary health services. Ms Ley’s decision to reject that reject that recommendation was welcomed by the various health ministers. The health ministers also agreed to terms for the first national code of conduct for healthcare workers; considered a proposal for national registration of paramedics and agreed to extend an exemption for privately practising midwives from needing professional indemnity insurance. * Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.