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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-12 Daily Xml
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Mental Health Services

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding mental health services and suicide prevention.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Members of the council will know of my long support for suicide prevention for all South Australians and for mental health services that support suicide prevention. Will the minister update the council on the recent launch of the mental health services plan for South Australia?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:47): I would like to thank the honourable member for his question and for his long-term commitment to action in relation to suicide prevention for South Australians. The Marshall Liberal government has a strong commitment to improving support for mental health services in South Australia. It was this government that opened the 10-bed psychiatric intensive care unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and it was this government that opened the 10 forensic mental health beds at Glenside.

Working with the Morrison Liberal government, this government has invested $100 million, both in the past and projected, to support delivery of mental health services in South Australia. Building on this work, we have now delivered a mental health services plan for South Australia, which was launched on 2 November. Also present at the launch were mental health peer educator Helen Nowak, Mental Health Commissioner Chris Burns and the Chief Psychiatrist, John Brayley.

Each year, our emergency departments see over 20,000 presentations, and our hospitals receive over 9,000 acute admissions. Despite this, and the total of 690,000 interactions with our mental health services each year, the mental health services plan will be the first mental health services plan in place for seven years and will provide direction for South Australia's public mental health services for the next five years.

This plan, prepared by the Chief Psychiatrist and the SA Mental Health Commissioner, with comprehensive input from people with lived experience of mental illness and their families and supporters, will set a direction for our services, reshaping services in some areas and building on areas of success. It is particularly important that we take the time to listen to people with lived experience while working with clinicians.

Not only is this engagement with stakeholders a key commitment of the Marshall Liberal government but it ensures that these principles are at the centre of the services. Whether it is the Towards Zero initiative, aiming to reduce deaths in specialty services, or youth mental health, with services such as Headspace, this engagement will ensure better understanding and a better fit of our mental health services.

It is also through this engagement that we heard that the current system is often difficult to navigate and has shaped a particular focus of the plan towards integration of services with community alternatives and hospital-based services. As this plan demonstrates, the Marshall Liberal government is getting on with the job of providing the care and mental health support South Australians need. We know that mental health services present significant challenges that won't be resolved overnight, but this plan is an important step forward in mental health services.

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