Page 3151 - Week 10 - Thursday, 18 October 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Further strategies have been implemented by Housing ACT to assist in identifying any support requirements which may assist tenants to maintain successful tenancies. This includes a pre-allocation case conferencing mechanism which identifies the needs of the applicant and any agencies who are providing support, and assists in making appropriate allocations. Mental health agencies are regularly involved in case conferences. As housing minister, I can confirm Housing ACT’s commitment to continue working with Mental Health ACT and other relevant support services to ensure people have the supports to enable them to live and contribute positively within the community. While acknowledging the work of the committee and its recommendations for improving mental health support to people living with mental illness, the government disagrees with the report’s statement that Mental Health ACT services rate poorly against other jurisdictions in Australia.
The national mental health report 2005 outlines the following statistics in relation to the ACT: it is the third highest jurisdiction in per capita spending on mental health, which is above the national average and represents the second highest positive percentage change in mental health investment over 10 years; it is highest in achieving jurisdiction in clinical staff employed in ambulatory care and well above the national average; it has the highest number of beds in staffed community residential facilities per 100,000 population and more than twice the national average; it has the second highest percentage of mental health services completing external reviews against the national standards for mental health services, a figure 30 per cent higher than the national average; it has the highest per capita spending on community mental health services—25 per cent higher than national average; it has the second highest investment in non-government organisations—0.1 per cent behind Victoria, and almost twice the national average; it has the second highest number of supported public housing places per capita; and it has the highest number of consumer consultants employed per 1000 FTE clinical staff.
The statistics above indicate that the ACT has a comparatively well resourced, community-based mental health system in comparison with other Australian jurisdictions. The ACT government has prioritised community-based care in line with the nationally agreed priority outlined in the national mental health strategy. This is reflected in the significantly higher number of community-supported accommodation beds in the ACT compared to other jurisdictions and the national average. During 2006-07, the ACT government, along with all other jurisdictions, signed the Council of Australian Governments national action plan on mental health for 2006-11, called the national action plan.
The national action plan brings commonwealth and state and territory governments together to better coordinate service provision for people with mental illness. The national action plan also commits the ACT and commonwealth governments to increasing the resources in the Mental Health ACT sector during the next five years. Coordinated care to ensure clinical support and community supports, such as housing employment and education, are brought together to sustain recovery for mental health consumers is an important focus of the national action plan. ACT Health is working with other agencies to develop a model and process for coordinated care in the ACT.
The ACT government’s implementation of the national action plan initiatives has brought forward implementation of some of the actions under the Mental Health ACT
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .