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31st May 2006
Mental Health
Forum Slams Health System
I have been
very concerned with the state of mental health care in NSW for a number
of years, and during my time in the NSW parliament I have played my part
in bringing the appalling level of care into the public spotlight. Most
recently, I had the pleasure of bringing together a group of people who
very ably put the real issues on the table. Mental Health in NSW: Getting
Beyond Crisis was well attended by the public and by the press although
the vast majority of decision makers in our government were unable to
accept our invitation to hear the story these experts had to tell.
The speakers were a "Who's Who" of mental health expertise and
activism. The general conclusion was that the Health Department is not
doing at all well by the mentally ill of NSW.
Dr. John Mendoza, Chair of the Mental Health Council was very critical
of the role played by Health Departments, particularly the NSW one, which
spends less on NGO and community support for mental health than other
States.
hear more
via Mp3>>
Prof Ian Hickie said recent federal monies must be spent on programs
that have not failed already - a sentiment that seems obvious but which
has gotten him a great deal of negative attention from the bureaucracies.
hear more via
Mp3>>
Frank Walker from the Schizophrenia Fellowship spoke of his experience
as a family member, and a judge dealing with mentally ill people, and
to the lack of facilities for longer term acute care.
Toby Raeburn, from Matthew Talbot Hospital, took his shirt off
to demonstrate how people who dress or act differently, threaten us and
are rejected resulting in an attitudinal problem that denies the mentally
ill our best efforts.
hear more
via Mp3>>
Dr. Eileen Baldry outlned the appalling situation of Prisons being
rapidly turned into defacto mental health facilities.
hear more via
Mp3>>
Dr. Baldry's concerns echoed those of Steve Mark, the Legal Services
Commissioner of NSW, who said that there was a need for a new model for
people who are mentally ill and who offend against the law.
hear more via
Mp3>>
Lyn Shumack, a private practitioner, pointed out that Psychologists
were greatly under-used in the health system, which had a medical and
pharmaceutical model of care. She also confirmed the general consensus
that the majority of mental illness was not receiving much attention at
all because other people's depression and personality disorders, which
are commoner and cause as much misery as more spectacular illnesses, do
not inconvenience us to the same extent. She made the suggestion that
mental health should be done by a new department, funded jointly by Federal
and State governments, which have all the money and spend it for on a
new "Mental Health" entity, with a new model.
hear more
via Mp3>>
Most importantly, the contributions made by Peter Schaecken and
Laraine Toms made it clear that consumers of mental health care
services, and the people who care for them, are experiencing enormous
hardship. They suffer because of the lack of funding, a lack of support,
and in the final analysis, a startling lack of vision.
Summing up, mental health is currently a small adjunct to physical 'illness',
which is the key concern of the NSW Health system. The NSW Health system
bases its activities in hospitals and is set up for short-stay interventions
with minimal work before or after hospitalisation. This is the exact opposite
of what is needed in mental health. Speakers drew the contrast between
people with a physical illness, who would be given expensive drugs and
scans even if their chances of survival were minimal. They would not be
discharged from hospital until the doctors felt that they were able to
look after themselves at home. What a contrast with the treatment of the
mentally ill, who wait for ages for assessment, cannot be admitted, are
discharged to make way for others and who no support for their long-term
accommodation and welfare.There must be a commitment to creating a system
that has fewer admissions because there are good outreach systems in the
community, and good relations between carers and medical personnel.
The forum had input from the floor, with audience members telling stories
of their own problems, and providing a heartening level of support for
the ideas and criticisms that were raised.
I have been involved in scheduling patients and have worked in Public
Hospital Emergency Departments. I know from first hand experience that
Mental Health patients need very special facilities in Emergency wards,
but acute beds are the last resort. To truly address the problem we have
to focus more on community mental health services, whose sole aims are
the support and recovery of people with mental illness. We must also commit
to ending the federal-state bickering, which bedevils the delivery of
all human services in NSW.
You can hear some of the speakers for yourself thanks to our volunteers
who have provided us with MP3's. (note that these are very large files).
More will be uploaded as they become available.
Dr. Louise Newman
Prof. Ian Hickie
Dr. John Mendoza
Steve Mark
Dr. Eileen Baldry
Toby Raeburn
Lyn Shumack
Yours,
Dr.Arthur Chesterfield-Evans M.L.C.(ACE)
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