❓ A WA parliamentary question addresses concerns about the treatment of homeless individuals with mental illness, access to supported accommodation, and adequacy of mental health services. The government provides responses regarding the role of the Mobile Community Outreach Team, funding for sub-acute services, and estimated need for additional community beds.
AnsweredQoN 3382Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the news story in the Sunday Times on 9 August on page 3, titled “Mentally ill street jabs", and I ask: (a) is it true that homeless Western Australians are being sedated on the streets with anti-psychotic medication because there are no places in supported accommodation to offer them care; (b) if yes to (a), how many patients were treated with anti-psychotic medication by the Mobile Community Outreach team in 2014-2015; (c) which step-down accommodation providers have had their budget cuts and by what amount; (d) last year the Mental Health Commissioner was quoted in an ABC media article on 13 August 2014 as saying “Individual services are fairly drastically under-supplied, we probably only have 30 percent of supply we need in those community-based services," is this statistic still current or has the situation become worse; and (e) what is the estimated number of additional step-down beds needed in Western Australia to meet current demand?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 October 2015
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health
Response time
37 days
(a) The key function of Mobile Community Outreach Team (MCOT) is to assist homeless people with complex mental disorders who also frequently have drug and alcohol co-morbidities, to access appropriate supported accommodation, and to engage in effective treatment and other psychosocial supports.
Antipsychotic medication is a proven and effective treatment for patients with psychotic disorders.
(b) MCOT is a small service and the data requested is manually collected. To provide this data would require diverting clinical staff from their clinical duties to undertake the analysis required. As the service is small, the provision of such data would also risk identifying clients of the service.
(c) There was no funding cut to mental health sub-acute services. There is one sub-acute service currently operational in Western Australia; this is the Joondalup Sub-Acute Service, operated by Neami National. Funding allocated to this service increased from $3,524,867 in 2014/15 to $3,625,626 in 2015/16, the increase representing indexation consistent with Government policy to provide appropriate indexation to not-for-profit service providers.
(d) The figure provided was an estimate and a revised final estimate will be provided when the draft WA Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Services Plan 2015-2015 (the Plan) is formally released. However, it is not anticipated that the final estimate will be significantly different.
(e) Based on the modelling undertaken for the draft Plan, 573 additional mental health community beds (including step-down beds) are required by 2025. These figures are subject to change, as they are based on the draft Plan, which was released for public consultation on 3 December 2014. The Plan has been revised to incorporate feedback received, and is currently being considered by the Government.
Antipsychotic medication is a proven and effective treatment for patients with psychotic disorders.
(b) MCOT is a small service and the data requested is manually collected. To provide this data would require diverting clinical staff from their clinical duties to undertake the analysis required. As the service is small, the provision of such data would also risk identifying clients of the service.
(c) There was no funding cut to mental health sub-acute services. There is one sub-acute service currently operational in Western Australia; this is the Joondalup Sub-Acute Service, operated by Neami National. Funding allocated to this service increased from $3,524,867 in 2014/15 to $3,625,626 in 2015/16, the increase representing indexation consistent with Government policy to provide appropriate indexation to not-for-profit service providers.
(d) The figure provided was an estimate and a revised final estimate will be provided when the draft WA Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Services Plan 2015-2015 (the Plan) is formally released. However, it is not anticipated that the final estimate will be significantly different.
(e) Based on the modelling undertaken for the draft Plan, 573 additional mental health community beds (including step-down beds) are required by 2025. These figures are subject to change, as they are based on the draft Plan, which was released for public consultation on 3 December 2014. The Plan has been revised to incorporate feedback received, and is currently being considered by the Government.
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