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Canberra Today 15°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra’s mental health services are ‘lagging’

SHADOW Health Minister Vicki Dunne calls for the ACT government to establish an Office of Mental Health before acute mental health services “lag” any further and more people are forced to seek treatment interstate. 

Vicki Dunne
Mrs Dunne says it’s a shame that the Minister for Mental Health Shane Rattenbury has moved at a glacial pace to establish an Office of Mental Health when mental health patients are not getting the treatment they need.

According to the latest Productivity Commission report on government services in health, there are not enough acute mental health beds to meet growing demand and staffing levels have also fallen behind demand.

Mrs Dunne says in the past ten years, the number of patient days per 1000 people have increased by more than one-third, while the number of full time staff per 100,000 people only increased by 16 per cent. 

“This is well short of the national average. In 2015-16, we had 32.7 full-timers per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 54.6,” Mrs Dunne says. 

“This is underscored by a lack of acute beds. In the past ten years, the beds per 100,000 people have fallen by 17.6 per cent.

“Constituents with mental health problems, particularly young adolescents, tell me they cannot get the kind of wrap-around treatment services they need and that mental health units are at or over capacity. 

“Some of these people are forced to go interstate to get the treatment they need.” 

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