3 March 2021
The ANMF (Victorian Branch) has welcomed the Victorian mental health royal commission’s recommendations to mend a system that had, in the words of the commission, “catastrophically failed to live up to expectations”.
The commission found that changes were needed to stop hospital emergency departments becoming entry points to assistance, which is also a major issue in South Australia. Under-funded community-based services, the commission said, needed to be boosted.
Interestingly, the report has recommended Victoria work closely with the Commonwealth and other states to properly implement change.
The ANMF (SA Branch) last week sent a letter urging Health Minister Wade to immediately outline strategies to deal with the crushing impact of mental health patients on emergency department capacities in South Australia.
“Despite our continuous advocacy there has been no substantial improvement in the flow of mental health clients through the system, with these clients having the longest emergency department wait times of any patient cohort,’’ we wrote. “The results for patient care and for nursing staff in the emergency departments have been horrendous’’.
Many of the Victorian recommendations align with the priorities outlined in the ANMF (Vic Branch) submission to the royal commission which include fixing funding, retaining clinical mental health services in the hospital system, removing fragmentation between services and improving the safety of the mental health workforce.
ANMF (Vic Branch) Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence said: “The recommendations and the Andrews Government’s sense of urgency and deep understanding of the broken system give us comfort that real reform will occur that listens and responds to the voices of people with mental ill health and their families’’.
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has vowed to adopt all the recommendations, which include the establishment of up to 60 community-based adult mental health services and 22 high-level treatment services delivered in partnership with hospitals. The report also said there should be 13 services specific to young people. Access to services in rural and regional areas needed to be improved.
“On first reading we support all of the recommendations and we look forward to working with the Government to ensure mental health nurses and nurse-led models, particularly in the community, are part of the solutions. We won’t rest until the abolished yet successful federally-funded mental health community nurse program, known as the ‘Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program or MHNIP’ is restored and supporting people with complex, often trauma-based mental illness to stay well and living, working and learning in their communities,’ Ms Harradence said.
The ANMF (Vic Branch) asked for and supports recommendation 5 and the establishment of Adult and Older Adult Local Mental Health and Wellbeing Services and Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services designed to provide integrated, holistic care support to navigate the system and shared care between primary and secondary services.
‘This will address system fragmentation and provide resources to follow up and support people with a mental illness,’’ Ms Harradence said. ‘It will improve access, including the provision of alternative entry points other than the emergency department. It will provide care to keep people well, help people recover and save lives,’’ she said.
While the emphasis is on turning a reactive system into a compassionate, preventative and recovery system, recommendation 8 will improve the ability to respond and support people experiencing a mental health crisis, the ANMF (Vic Branch) said.
The report acknowledges that the broken system has harmed, not helped, many of those who took the difficult step of asking for support.
It also acknowledges the trauma mental health nurses and others, working in an under-resourced and disconnected system, have experienced because they were unable to meet the overwhelming needs of unwell Victorians.
Recommendation 58, which addresses workforce safety and wellbeing, will be critical to ensuring nurses, doctors and allied health professionals are safe at work and in a position to provide the best care possible.
The ANMF (SA Branch) will be closely monitoring how the mental health reboot in Victoria plays out, to see what lessons can be learnt and implemented here.