ALMOST FIVE years after it was adopted as official policy, the Government’s 10-year plan to modernise the mental health service is at risk of being totally discredited. Much of the development money dedicated to implementing the strategy simply never arrived. Other funds were diverted into other parts of the health system, even before the current economic crisis. More recent cuts in public spending have hit mental health to a greater extent than any other part of the health service.
A Vision for Changeis a laudable and far-seeing plan. It promises to transform a creaking and neglected service into a modern, humane system built on the foundation stone of recovery. It envisages closing all Victorian-era institutions, developing community-based services and building new child and adolescent-based facilities. Above all, it seeks to ensure that every citizen who requires it has access to local, specialised and comprehensive mental health services of the highest standard.
These should not be aspirations but for many people they still are. Almost half-way through the lifespan of the plan, the dismal reality is that about 1,000 people continue to reside in outdated and often inhumane mental hospitals. Hundreds of children continue to be admitted into inappropriate adult units. Community mental teams are under-resourced and under-staffed.
There has been progress but it is too fragmented. In some parts of the State, local initiatives by mental health professionals have resulted in good community-based services and fewer people being admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Services for children and adolescents are also beginning to improve. This kind of leadership needs to be encouraged. However, further funding cuts threaten to undermine much of this progress. Retreating from investment in community based services will simply lead to regressive and institutional care.
Mental health services have always existed in the shadows, a victim of both social and political stigma. Yet, as today’s special edition of HEALTHplus makes clear, mental health is everyone’s concern. One in four of us experiences a psychiatric problem at some stage in our lives. The number of people taking their own lives is increasing dramatically. And at a time when the strain of the economic downturn is impacting heavily on families, livelihoods and relationships, a high-quality mental health service is more essential than ever.
At the very minimum it is crucial that health authorities maintain existing staffing levels and receive promised funding to develop new services. An updated action plan is required to prioritise the delivery of the remainder of A Vision for Change. Leadership at political and clinical level will be crucial.
It is extraordinarily cynical of the Government to claim on one hand to be tackling the negative stigma surrounding mental health, while on the other starving the sector of vital funding. A modern mental health service cannot be run on rhetoric and good intentions. So far we have had plenty of vision, but precious little change. It is time to deliver.