Perinatal Depression

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (14:34): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Minister, could you update the house on the work that is being done in this state to address perinatal depression in women during pregnancy and post birth?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:34): I thank the member for Elder for her special interest in this area, as someone who has worked with this demographic over many years as a midwife, and for bringing this issue to the attention of the house during Perinatal Depression and Anxiety Awareness Week.

The member for Elder recently represented the government and spoke at the biennial Australasian Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health Conference held here in Adelaide. I understand that the member met many compassionate professionals at the conference who were concerned about affected women at a most vulnerable time of their lives when their prime responsibility is to take care of themselves and, of course, their child.

According to Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia, more than 100,000 families are affected by perinatal mental illness each year, and many expecting and new parents delay identification and treatment causing extended suffering that can have long-term implications for both baby and mother. In South Australia infant and perinatal mental health services comprise the specialist six-bed mother and baby inpatient unit, Helen Mayo House, as well as services at the Lyell McEwen Hospital, the Women's and Children's Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre, as well as partnerships between general practitioners and midwives in country South Australia.

SA Health has also just launched a Perinatal Emergency Education Strategy. Until recently it has also been a successful funding partnership between state and commonwealth on the National Perinatal Depression Initiative, which provided the employment of perinatal mental health clinicians for universal screening for perinatal depression during pregnancy and again shortly after the birth of the child and appropriate follow-up and care and support for women.

Funding enabled the screening of almost 2,000 country and metropolitan women annually with around 4,500 episodes of care for expectant and new mothers. I was perplexed to learn that the commonwealth planned to cease this funding under the National Partnership Agreement on Supporting Mental Health Reform, and I wrote to the federal government in January and again in May to outline my concerns about what effect this might have on services to women at this vital time in their lives.

Unfortunately, calls to continue this funding have fallen on deaf ears, with the federal government cutting this initiative in its latest budget. The member for Elder spoke about these cuts in her speech to the Marcé Society and tells me that the president of the society and many attendees at the conference echoed their dismay over the commonwealth government's decision to cut this funding and the long-term impact this will have on mothers in South Australia.

I have again written to the federal government to relay the concerns of the member for Elder, the government and the Marcé Society and asked it to reconsider its decision to discontinue this important program providing universal screening and follow-up services for new and expectant mothers.