No more tinkering around the edges: Fix Mental Health Care NOW

Dear Minister Jackson,
After eleven months of submissions and people sharing their stories with the NSW community and outpatient mental health inquiry, it is crystal clear that the mental health system is failing and needs urgent and significant reform. 
People who need help do not know where or have nowhere to go, overworked carers and workers are burning out, and first responders and emergency departments are being used as a last resort. 
<ul>
<li>There was a 21% increase in community mental health patients in the past decade yet funding for those services only increased by 13% in the same period.</li>
<li>Community mental health full time equivalent staff per 100,000 population declined from 54.1 to 48.9 in NSW over the past decade.</li>
<li>58,000 people in NSW with severe and complex mental illness are estimated to be missing out on psychosocial support services.</li>
<li>52 people experiencing mental health distress died in interactions with NSW Police during the past 5 years.</li>
<li>The South Australian MH CORE mental health emergency response model attended to approximately 700 calls from April to June 2023, three quarters of which the team was able to provide patient care within the community without transport to hospital or engagement with police.</li>
<li>Aboriginal people experience a higher rate of mental health issues than non-Aboriginal people - deaths from suicide are almost twice as high, hospitalisation rates for intentional self-harm are three times as high, and rates of high or very high psychological distress rates are 2.4 times higher</li>
</ul>
The final report handed down by the inquiry makes it clear what needs to be done to start the work of reversing these dire statistics. I’m calling on you to make the change that is needed to rebuild the broken mental health system by implementing all of the 39 recommendations in the report.
The pre-budget funding that’s just been announced for mental health is barely a 4% increase, about what’s needed just to match inflation. Another helpline won’t make much difference when there’s nowhere for people to be referred to for ongoing care, and new positions in community mental health teams won’t be filled when there are already sweeping vacancies because pay and conditions for health workers in NSW are so far behind other states.
This is not the time for further investigation, exploration, or consideration. People across NSW have turned up to the inquiry to bravely retell their stories. You owe it to them to take the urgency of this reform seriously. The time for that reform is now.

I would like to BCC myself

No more tinkering around the edges: Fix Mental Health Care NOW

Would you like to be kept updated on my work in Health including Mental Health?

The NSW mental health inquiry has just handed down its report, making a heap of recommendations to address issues like dire funding shortages across the mental health system and poor emergency response models for mental health incidents. That’s why we need you, to write to the Minister for Mental Health and demand the NSW government implements the recommendations of this report.

In my work as a GP, it became crystal clear to me that the mental health system is failing. People who need help do not know where or have nowhere to go, overworked carers and workers are burning out, first responders and emergency departments are being used as a last resort. The system is chronically underfunded and on the brink of collapse.

That’s why I initiated and led the NSW inquiry into community and outpatient mental health as chair to unpick the system-wide malfunction that’s occurring and come up with solutions to get it back on track.

The committee made 39 recommendations in its final report (read the final report here). They relate to better funding and resourcing mental health services, reforming police-led emergency response to mental health crises, and delivering mental health services that are led by and based in communities all over NSW. The NSW Government now has three months to respond to those recommendations.

If you had told me twelve months ago that we’d have a formal recommendation for the NSW government to move from a police-led to a health-led response to mental health crises, I would’ve been over the moon! This is a massive step in the right direction that the Greens have and will continue to fight tirelessly for.

Unfortunately, The NSW Labor Government made several amendments to the draft report by voting with the coalition opposition resulting in several recommendations being weakened. On many occasions, they’ve chosen to simply “explore” making changes, rather than just implementing what has been recommended based on eleven months of extensive consultation. I am deeply concerned that we will simply return to the status quo after this Dora-The-Explorer government finishes with its explorations.

This is not the time for further investigation, exploration, or consideration. The time for this reform is now.

That's why we need your help!

No more tinkering around the edges: Fix Mental Health Care NOW

No more tinkering around the edges: Fix Mental Health Care NOW

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