Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2196 ..
Mental health-funding
(Question No 668)
Mr Smyth
asked the Minister for Health, upon notice:In relation to mental health funding:
(1) The Government promised to allocate an additional $1m to mental health. Was that commitment fulfilled on the 2002-03 Budget, if not, why not and when will this commitment be filled;
(2) Where in the Budget was this additional money, ie was it in an overall increase to health or through other programs that you can point to in the Budget Papers;
(3) This funding was supposed to 'improve discharge procedures, ensure support at that stage and examine post discharge accommodation'. Was this achieved, if so, please provide supporting documentation, if not, why not;
(4) The Government was also going to provide additional resources for mental health particularly for proactive early intervention and multiple diagnosis patients, has this been achieved, if so, please provide supporting documentation, if not why not;
(5) The Government also said that training and recruitment of additional staff was a pre-requisite to improved services, have you increased staff numbers in the mental health area, if so please provide supporting documentation, if not, why not.
Mr Corbell
: The answer to the member's question is:(1) The Government exceeded its Budget commitment of $1m in 2002-2003. $2.0million was allocated to mental health in the 2002-03 budget.
(2) The allocation of the additional $2.0 million referred to in question one is summarised was as follows:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Enhancement; $466,000
CALCAM Adolescent Mental Health Day Program; $500,000
Psycho-geriatric Care; $300,000
Mental Illness Education ACT; $85,000
Calvary Mental Health Growth inpatient throughput; $326,000
Older Persons Mental Health Service Expansion; $322,000
(3) Discharge procedures are being examined as part of the implementation of the recommendations of the quality review of mental health services, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly in December 2002, at the time of the tabling of the Patterson Report. In response to the need to continuously improve the quality of all services, a Discharge Planner at The Canberra Hospital inpatient unit was funded in the 2003-2004 budget ($80,000).
Post Discharge accommodation received $240,000 funding in the 2003-2004 Budget, under the Supported Accommodation initiative.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .