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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 3171 ..

Payment to Annabelles by WRC is made on invoice which details date, employee service provided and to whom, hours, cost per hour, total cost of service.

The Department does not seek acquittal of funding from Anabelle's as it has no contractual arrangement with that agency.

The funds are acquitted by WRC in quarterly output reports as well as quarterly financial statements (as direct purchase costs), as mandatory requirements of WRC current purchaser/provider contract with the Department

Besides these standard contractual obligations which are attached to all non-government purchaser provider contracts, an independent audit report which acquits financial expenditure against the contract of services, is required annually.

To answer the last part of Mr Rugendyke's question, yes it would be fair to question the appropriateness of a business that walks your dog etc., being responsible for the care of mentally ill patients, if this was the case. What Annabelle's support workers provide is day to day living skills assistance to mentally ill patients in order to maintain independence within the community, and improve their quality of life. In the majority of cases, provision of support care prevents these patients from being institutionalised if not hospitalised. Support accommodation is just one aspect of a coordinated approach to managing mental health patients in the community. The overall responsibility for each individual patients' care management lies with the Case Manager from the Mental Health Services. In consultation with the patient and the facilitating agency (WRC), the case manager develops an individual support plan. Annabelles is responsible for the day to day administration and ensuring support workers are implementing the Individual Support Plans. They do not provide clinical mental health treatment.

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