The pressure is growing on the New South Wales (NSW) government. Now, it’s time for lawmakers to address this ongoing crisis within the state’s mental health system directly. NSW’s mental health investment is at around $2.9 billion. It’s still dead last in the nation for funding per capita. A recent Four Corners investigation has exposed a different story entirely. It laid bare the troubling gaps in access to—and in quality—mental health care.
Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson finds herself at the epicentre of the state’s mental health services. She appreciates the $3 billion in new funding, particularly for community care, but knows that’s not enough. She cautions that it will be a long time before any positive impact becomes apparent. At this point, it is as serious as it gets. In one of the busiest emergency departments in the state, reports claim that individuals seeking mental health care are waiting as long as four days for life-saving treatment.
Funding Challenges
The NSW government has committed almost $3 billion to mental health services. While this funding commitment is commendable, most experts agree that this is well below what is actually needed. As a result, the state’s funding per capita is the lowest in Australia. This proposal has incited the ire of some of HHS’s most vocal constituents, the healthcare professionals. In January, dozens of psychiatrists quit. They made this courageous decision by going on strike because they couldn’t stand the oppressive reality inside of our treatment industry’s mental health system.
Minister Rose Jackson acknowledged in her media release that more funding would be necessary, but solutions would not happen overnight.
“We are now trying to deliver more money into the system. We have a budget coming up in a few weeks but it’s not something that you can turn around in one budget or in one year,” – Minister Rose Jackson
The urgency for reform is palpable. Now, the government has finally released its own data. Second, it demonstrates that almost 60,000 people with severe mental illnesses probably do not currently have the community-based care they urgently require. This shocking statistic highlights the urgent need for a whole-of-government approach to improve mental health services across NSW.
Safe Havens Initiative
In direct response to the state’s worsening mental health crisis, the NSW government has opened 21 Safe Havens. These walk-in centres do critical work, offering immediate support to people who are suicidal or need therapeutic assistance right now. These centers are located within the government’s Towards Zero Suicides initiative. They seek to prevent suicide in addition to providing 24/7 crisis support for people in emotional distress.
Carly Richardson, a service user, noted:
“The Safe Haven’s great. It’s definitely not a place that fixes me, but it kind of [tides] me over a bit when I’m really not okay. I think we need more services that offer that step-up, step-down approach.”
In her statement, Minister Jackson recognized the impact that Safe Havens have had. He stressed that they by themselves won’t solve the systemic issues of mental health care in NSW.
A Long Road Ahead
Transport Minister Rose Jackson acknowledged the importance of more funding. She further emphasized that these investments should lead to tangible improvements in cutting through the bureaucracy and providing services to citizens.
“It’s about how we spend that money and doing that in a thoughtful way that doesn’t just keep delivering more ambulances at the bottom of a cliff but actually investing in community-based care to divert people from,” – Minister Rose Jackson
Further, she focused on the costs of increasing pay for psychiatrists. A proposed 25% pay increase for these professionals would increase rolling annual costs by nearly $700 million. This significant cost begs the question of how sustainable this level of action is.
“When you increase the pay of an already relatively well-paid doctor by 25 per cent in one year, and there are obviously hundreds and hundreds of those doctors, the cost is significant,” – Minister Rose Jackson
As the government prepares for fall budget negotiations, stakeholders are hungry for a federal plan to address urgent needs and create dynamic long-term structural changes to our mental health care system.
