Page 2166 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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work in the ACT sufficiently resourced to cope with increasing demand? I asked about dual diagnosis in the estimates hearing, and I am pleased to see that there is some movement on that front. I will look forward to seeing the implementation of the training being undertaken. The mental health community has expressed some concerns to me, and not all are about funding. The big one is the status of the mental health act review.
In regard to health services in the prison system, there is a commitment in the ACT health budget for the provision of health services to the Alexander Maconochie Centre and Bimberi. The minister has advised that the government will continue to work with Winnunga Nimmityjah, and there are a number of other community health agencies which are being accredited at the AMC. These are steps in the right direction. It concerns me, though, as raised in the estimates committee report, that Lifeline was not funded to provide the program developed by them for suicide intervention skills training for staff. This is a human rights prison, and, as the minister has advised in response to a question on notice, apparently 25 to 30 per cent of detainees who are remanded at the Belconnen Remand Centre and Symonston Temporary Remand Centre exhibit moderate to severe mental health problems.
Mr Speaker, I was at a forum last week where it was revealed that across Australia something like 75 per cent of prisoners actually presented for mental health issues in the year before they were incarcerated and that 90 per cent—a staggering 90 per cent—of women incarcerated in Australia’s jails presented for mental health problems within the year before they were incarcerated. So, in a way, our prisons are de facto mental health institutions. That means that there has to be an awful lot of effort going into them to deal with those issues.
Many aspects of the budget debate were unfortunately—it was probably unavoidable—eclipsed by the gas-fired power plant. Indeed, even with the health minister’s attendance at the estimates hearing quite a considerable amount of time was taken up over issues about the gas-fired power plant. I am pleased that the government has announced that there will be a health analysis, and I certainly thank the minister for belatedly taking up this part of my main motion. I wish her every success in finding the appropriate people for the group that she is putting together. One of the objectives ACT Health mentioned in the budget is managing public health risks. I am sure that the opposition, the Greens and many residents would agree that the power plant development could present a public health risk and as such should be investigated by ACT Health.
One recommendation of the committee was about addressing the causes of aggression towards health staff. This is a key part of successful recruitment and retention, which are ongoing problems for the health sector and for many other sectors. I trust the ACT government is doing what it can to improve staff recruitment and retention, and we will certainly be keeping this on the Assembly’s agenda.
The Minister for Health has a lot to juggle: strong GP and visiting medical officer advocates, allied health professionals, nurses, administrators, public concerns and having to work with the commonwealth and other states. Many of the recommendations of the estimates committee call for work with New South Wales and the commonwealth, particularly around funding, chronic disease management and the commonwealth’s Medicare and private health insurance changes.
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