MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
384. Mr M.J. FOLKARD to the Minister for Health:
On behalf of the member for Swan
Hills, I welcome the students from Eastern Hills Senior High School.
I refer to the McGowan government's
record investment in mental health services across Western Australia. Can the
minister outline to the house how this unprecedented investment will help avoid
hospitalisations and ensure that more Western Australians can access
appropriate care closer to where they live?
Mr R.H. COOK
replied:
I
thank the member for the question and I acknowledge his long advocacy for
mental health issues. I wish him all the very best for his PTSD Research
Foundation, which is doing great work on behalf of the people of the community.
This morning I joined the Minister
for Mental Health, Hon Stephen Dawson, at what will be our new community care unit in Orelia, located in the heart of the
centre of the universe—Kwinana. This is a $24.5 million 20-bed service
funded under the WA recovery plan, which is
a great example of the significant investments the McGowan government is making as we come out of the COVID-19
experience. This is all part of the $1.1 billion record investment in mental
health as a part of the 2021–22 mental health budget—an 11 per cent
increase on the previous budget of 2020–21. We are delivering a $495 million
additional investment for statewide mental health, alcohol and other drug
services. This includes a $311 million boost to contemporary community
accommodation supports. This is about addressing critical gaps in our mental
health services.
As I was saying at the press
conference this morning, many of the solutions with our hospital services lie
in strong community mental health services so that patients can transition out
of the public hospital system into appropriate care environments as residents,
so that they can get on the road to recovery in a more appropriate setting for
their healing pathways. This service funding
includes $27.7 million for youth long-term housing and psychosocial support,
plus in-reach support packages to assist young people to live in the community
while accessing mental health and AOD supports; $25.4 million for a step-up,
step-down facility that provides a community mental health service and
short-term residential support; as well as $12.5 million for a purpose-built
20-bed alcohol and other drug withdrawal rehabilitation facility in the Perth
metropolitan area.
These important investments are
being made to ensure that we can continue to have services available for those
who are suffering from mental ill-health. It does not stop there. We also have
a $24.6 million investment in new mental health emergency centres at the
Rockingham and Armadale hospitals. That is an important investment for making
sure that when people come to an ED in a distressed state, they have an
appropriate environment in which to be cared for. We will also invest $31.7 million
in expanding WA's eating disorder treatment services to include central
hubs and clinical and community spokes.
The $495 million investment is part
of our $1.9 billion boost to health and mental health funding. It is such an
important effort as part of making sure that in this period of the
COVID-related spike in hospital demand, we are providing the resources needed
to supply our doctors and nurses with the resources they need to care for those
who come to their hospitals. It is also part of making sure that we have great
mental health services in the community so that we can care for people and get
them on their healing pathways. I think the Minister for Mental Health has done
a great job advocating for this funding, and we should be very proud of the
investments the McGowan Labor government is making in mental health.