❓ Ms. Hammat asks about the rollout of the mental health co-response service and government efforts to rebalance mental healthcare. The Minister responds by highlighting increased spending, reform efforts, and criticizes the opposition's lack of engagement with mental health issues.
AnsweredQoN 884Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
884. Ms M.J. HAMMAT to the Minister for Mental Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
record investment in mental health services, with funding increased by almost
60 per cent since 2017.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the rollout of the new mental health co-response
service as part of the WA virtual emergency department?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this government is rebalancing the mental
healthcare system to better support people in the community?
884. Ms M.J. HAMMAT to the Minister for Mental Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
record investment in mental health services, with funding increased by almost
60 per cent since 2017.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the rollout of the new mental health co-response
service as part of the WA virtual emergency department?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this government is rebalancing the mental
healthcare system to better support people in the community?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for the question. Under this government, we have seen a record
amount of spending on health and mental health. Over the last four years alone,
we have spent $50 billion on health and mental health services in Western Australia.
There has never been higher spending on health and mental health services than
we have right now. We are not only supporting the system with record spending,
but also undertaking difficult but important generational reform on how we
deliver those mental health and health systems. Two important reform pieces in
mental health are the Graylands Hospital reconfiguration for our acute inpatient beds and our forensic mental
health estate, and, importantly, our youth. The infant child adolescent
and youth taskforce or ICAYMHS reforms are being rolled out across Western Australia
to help rebalance that system away from the emergency departments and inpatient
units to a better, broader multidisciplinary response for young people and
adults who are experiencing a mental health crisis to remain in their community
and in their homes and not necessarily come into an acute mental health ward,
which itself has its challenges.
We
know that growing our acute mental health service capacity is important and we
have continued to do that. We have added another 50 beds to our mental
health unit in Joondalup, with the opening of 100 beds overall in the
Joondalup Health Campus. We have also brought online 75 beds primarily for
women at the Cockburn clinic in our south metro. Although inpatient beds still
remain a really important part of the system,
we need to be supporting people to stay out of inpatient beds. An important
part of that is the mental health co-response. The new co-response is an
ambulance-led co-response. We currently have a police co-response; that will
continue whilst we are rolling out the paramedic co-response. An ambulance
mental health co-response is the first of
its kind in Western Australia. It is part of a trial and part of the $ 47
million investment into our WA virtual
emergency department. It funds paramedics and an authorised mental health practitioner in a special purpose ambulance to attend to patients in the
community who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The feedback from mental
health consumers is that a Health-led co-response is far more appropriate than
a police-led co-response. In situations in which it is clinically appropriate,
those patients will be provided the option to see a mental health clinician as part of the WA virtual emergency department and
receive rapid follow-up care at home as part of the co-response team. If
someone needs an ambulance, they will still get one. If they need to be taken
to an emergency department, they will be taken there. If they can be stabilised
at home and then given rapid access to mental health clinicians either a few
hours later or the next day, that is also what we will do. We will evaluate it.
It is a better alternative and empowers patients to access care that is right
for them. It is all part of the plan to rebalance that system and help avoid
emergency department presentations.
We know that mental health and older
adults take up the bulk of many of those presentations and they do not necessarily want or need to be there. We are
continuing to roll out plans to support them to access care in the
community.
Contrast
this with the Liberal and National opposition, which has no plan for mental
health. We have seen no plan. In fact, I can count on one hand the
number of questions I have been asked since I have been the Minister for Mental
Health by either the Liberal or National opposition. They have no interest in
asking questions. In the 70-page policy document
that the Liberal Party mentioned, it had one mental health policy . The
shadow Minister for Mental Health has shown absolutely no interest in mental
health over the last four years. I do not expect much else to change leading up
to the election.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please.
Ms A. SANDERSON : The
community knows the Labor government has invested record amounts in our mental
health system and is investing in new models of care to support young people in
particular to access support outside of hospitals to keep them at school, in
their families and well.
thank the member for the question. Under this government, we have seen a record
amount of spending on health and mental health. Over the last four years alone,
we have spent $50 billion on health and mental health services in Western Australia.
There has never been higher spending on health and mental health services than
we have right now. We are not only supporting the system with record spending,
but also undertaking difficult but important generational reform on how we
deliver those mental health and health systems. Two important reform pieces in
mental health are the Graylands Hospital reconfiguration for our acute inpatient beds and our forensic mental
health estate, and, importantly, our youth. The infant child adolescent
and youth taskforce or ICAYMHS reforms are being rolled out across Western Australia
to help rebalance that system away from the emergency departments and inpatient
units to a better, broader multidisciplinary response for young people and
adults who are experiencing a mental health crisis to remain in their community
and in their homes and not necessarily come into an acute mental health ward,
which itself has its challenges.
We
know that growing our acute mental health service capacity is important and we
have continued to do that. We have added another 50 beds to our mental
health unit in Joondalup, with the opening of 100 beds overall in the
Joondalup Health Campus. We have also brought online 75 beds primarily for
women at the Cockburn clinic in our south metro. Although inpatient beds still
remain a really important part of the system,
we need to be supporting people to stay out of inpatient beds. An important
part of that is the mental health co-response. The new co-response is an
ambulance-led co-response. We currently have a police co-response; that will
continue whilst we are rolling out the paramedic co-response. An ambulance
mental health co-response is the first of
its kind in Western Australia. It is part of a trial and part of the $ 47
million investment into our WA virtual
emergency department. It funds paramedics and an authorised mental health practitioner in a special purpose ambulance to attend to patients in the
community who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The feedback from mental
health consumers is that a Health-led co-response is far more appropriate than
a police-led co-response. In situations in which it is clinically appropriate,
those patients will be provided the option to see a mental health clinician as part of the WA virtual emergency department and
receive rapid follow-up care at home as part of the co-response team. If
someone needs an ambulance, they will still get one. If they need to be taken
to an emergency department, they will be taken there. If they can be stabilised
at home and then given rapid access to mental health clinicians either a few
hours later or the next day, that is also what we will do. We will evaluate it.
It is a better alternative and empowers patients to access care that is right
for them. It is all part of the plan to rebalance that system and help avoid
emergency department presentations.
We know that mental health and older
adults take up the bulk of many of those presentations and they do not necessarily want or need to be there. We are
continuing to roll out plans to support them to access care in the
community.
Contrast
this with the Liberal and National opposition, which has no plan for mental
health. We have seen no plan. In fact, I can count on one hand the
number of questions I have been asked since I have been the Minister for Mental
Health by either the Liberal or National opposition. They have no interest in
asking questions. In the 70-page policy document
that the Liberal Party mentioned, it had one mental health policy . The
shadow Minister for Mental Health has shown absolutely no interest in mental
health over the last four years. I do not expect much else to change leading up
to the election.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please.
Ms A. SANDERSON : The
community knows the Labor government has invested record amounts in our mental
health system and is investing in new models of care to support young people in
particular to access support outside of hospitals to keep them at school, in
their families and well.
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