Stabilizing Mental Health Systems in Australia

This assignment examines the critical state of mental health services in Australia. It delves into the inadequate funding situation and highlights the urgent need for comprehensive reform. The document emphasizes the importance of thorough surveys, rigorous cancellation practices, and a robust digital mental health infrastructure as essential tools to combat this growing crisis. It references key Australian reports and policies on mental health, emphasizing the need for systemic change.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AUSTRALIA
Mental Health Services Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Components and Organizations of the Australian Mental Health Service................................2
Health and Social Characteristics of People who use this Service........................................2
Health Service Providers Typically Work In This Service....................................................2
Examples of Services.............................................................................................................3
Users Access of the Services..................................................................................................3
Funding of the Services..........................................................................................................3
Current Policy Debate and Service Model.................................................................................4
Strength and Limitations of the Policies....................................................................................4
Critical Understanding...............................................................................................................5
Suggestion for Improvement..................................................................................................5
Example of another Service that may be Affected.................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Approximately more than 20% of the Australian population suffers from mental
illness each year with the indigenous Australians scoring high than the non-indigenous people
(Jorm, Bourchier, Cvetkovski & Stewart, 2012). Government of Australia has framed several
policies in order the uplift the mental health set up of the population. The following report
throws detailed light of two of the existing mental health policies in Australia, their strength
and limitation and how these policies can be refined further for the betterment of the
mankind. The report also briefly discusses the health and social characteristics of the mental
health services with a critically analysis of the impact on the patients and the service
providers.
Components and Organizations of the Australian Mental Health Service
Health and Social Characteristics of People who use this Service
While mental health issue covers a wide range of mental disorders and largely varies
in degree among the patients, the mental health care service of Australia ensures that any
Australian with, or at risk of mental health problem, can gain access to the basic mental
health and support services. While mental health service can be offered to anyone, usually the
Australians experiencing a major depressive disorder or anxiety problem in the pre-old age
(age between 30 to 55 years) seek mental health support. Schizophrenia and Dementia occur
more frequently amongst the old and aged Australians, who are aged at least above 70 years,
while women are found to suffer more from anxiety than men, and seek healthcare service
here. A large number of Torres and Strait Island people, aged 15 and older, suffer from major
mental health disorders, which include depression, anxiety, psychosis, personality disorder
and substance abuse and dependence issue, for which they seek mental healthcare support as
well (McGorry et al., 2013).
Health Service Providers Typically Work In This Service
Various healthcare service providers offer mental healthcare service and community
service to the Australians seeking mental healthcare support, and these include the
psychiatrists, psychologists, general practitioners, healthcare nurses, and social workers.
While the GP, psychologist and psychiatrist can perform the mental health assessment of the
patient, and prescribe necessary medications, the nurse assists in mental behaviour
modification programs and counsels the patient. The social workers, on the other hand, help

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in comforting and consoling the patients in distress, create awareness amongst them
regarding the preventive ones, and offer support to help the drug addicts overcome substance
addiction.
Examples of Services
There are various ways in which a patient can gain access to the mental healthcare
service in Australia. First of all, there are mental healthcare institutions offering round the
clock service to the patients during emergency, whereby the patient can go to the hospital or
other residential care for the same. Often a patient seeking mental health service also visits
the hospital for seeking outpatient service, in case his disease is curable by counselling and
medication, and does not require round the clock observation, as in the case of dementia. At
the same time, one can also gain access to the psychologists or any other allied health
Users Access of the Services
Provided with the help of various initiatives funded by the government such as the
Better Access initiative, enables the mentally ill patients of Australia gain Medicare
subsidized access to various psychologists and other allied health providers after the
preparation of a Mental Health Treatment Plan by a particular healthcare practitioner. The
Better Access Initiative also helps the patients gain access to the concerned psychiatrist
directly through referral, who will require setting aside his appointments if the patient
referred to him, needs immediate attention (Kidd et al., 2015).
Funding of the Services
Funding of the medicine cost, treatment cost or any other medical fee associated with
the treatment of the patient is an important consideration. It is important to note that the
Australian government subsidises any form of mental health-related services through the
MBS (Medicare Benefits Schedule) and prescribed medications through the PBS
(Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) and RPBS (Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)
(McGorry et al., 2014). State and territory governments fund and deliver services and assist
with broader needs, such as accommodation support. There are various government funds as
well, which fund mental patients during specific occasions, that includes the National
Disability Insurance Scheme, that fund any person with psychiatric disability, who has a
permanent or significant functional impairment. The government, in order to improve the
access to basic mental healthcare service, has created the Primary Health Networks, which is
not only entrusted with the duty of leading mental health planning, but also integrating the

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same with the state, territory as well as the non-government organization and drug and
substance use prevention centres.
Current Policy Debate and Service Model
Australian Government, Department of Health framed fifth National Mental Health
Plan on 19th of December 2016. This plan will promote the establishment of a national
approach to collaborate government effort over the coming five years (2017 to 2022) over the
up gradation of the mental health service. The policy will mainly focus on the regional
planning at an integrated level along with service delivery. It will also promote coordinated
support and treatment for the people who are suffering from complex mental illness. This five
years policy plan also aims to curb the suicide rate among the aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander via uplift the physical health of the people and reducing the stigma of discrimination.
Finally the policy also aims to increase the safety and quality of the mental health service in
Australia. This policy will influence the service providers to provide equal mental health
support to both the indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia and thus reducing
health inequalities. This policy will have a long term affect on the patient as it will decrease
the incidence of mental health related casualties (suicide). The policy will all be beneficial for
people residing in suburbs as it will facilitate the growth of the mental health service
regionally (Australian Government Department of Health, 2016).
As per the National Health Reform Act, 2011, an independent government agency,
Independent Hospital Pricing Authority will finalise the development of the Australian
Mental Health Care Classification (AMHCC). The AMHCC is assigned to uplift the
meaningfulness of the mental health care service with the clinical prospective. It aims in the
improvement of the cost-effectiveness of the healthcare service and will also support
optimised implementation of the new mental health service models. The policy is majorly
beneficial for the people who overlook the mental health complication as kind of mood
swings due to escalating price involved in the treatment. The policy will benefit the mental
health care providers to work in an organised set up (Mental Health Services in Australia).
Strength and Limitations of the Policies
The strength of the National Mental Health Plan, 2016 is it promotes equality in
health. As per the research non-indigenous population in Australia has an average life span of
70 to 80 years and this is estimated to be 17 years longer than that of the Australian

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aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Moreover non-indigenous people are less likely to die
by suicide or get hospitalised by mental health problems. This policy aims in reducing the
discrimination in the field of mental service while promoting active suicide prevention
campaigns among the Australia aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander. Suicide is the major
cause of death among the Australian youth and aboriginals and has significant negative
effects on the emotional balance of the family members. The National Suicide Prevention
Strategy provides “Living is for Everyone Framework (LIFE)” under this policy. LIFE
provides an overreaching evidence based program which is strategic in nature the outlines the
vision, mission, principles and proposed outcomes for the suicide prevention plan in
Australia. However the limitation of the policy is, it did not aim to generate awareness among
the people living in rural areas about equitable access of the mental health (Australian Health
Care Associate, 2014).
The strength of National Health Reform Act, 2011 is it improves the transparency of
the funding of public hospitals via national health funding pool. It also aims in improving the
responsiveness and accountability of the need of the local community via establishment of
the special local hospital networks (LHNs) and other medicare locals. It also plans to
improve the cost-effective further via introducing several financial arrangements for the
mental health in state and in the territories. However, though the health reform act promote
optimised implementation of the mental health service it failed to bridge the gap between the
optimised access of mental health service among the indigenous and non-indigenous people
in Australia (Administrator National Health Funding Pool Australia, 2017).
Critical Understanding
As per my understanding, despite two decade long investment for improving the
mental health service, the mental health of Australia has not improved significantly. This is
due the fact that investment approach was not taken in right direction and lesser emphasis
was given over prevention. Mental disorder are common in Australia however, the majority
of the people who are suffering from mental illness did not seek or fail to avail professional
help (Mental Health Australia, 2017).
Suggestion for Improvement
The policies could be improved if proper and attention is given over the psychological
counselling than that of the widespread use of the psychotropic medications. Psychotropic

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medications are not always directed towards the susceptible people. Moreover, the
psychological therapies or approach undertaken may turn out to be ineffective depending on
the age and the social background of the people. For example, approach that must be taken
for providing mental health backup to the indigenous people must be completely different
from the approach suitable for non-indigenous people. No the other hand, use of
antidepressant for mild depressive disorder will not solve the stigma of the problem but rather
say will elevate the overall scenario. In order to promote effective counselling to the
psychotic people, it is not always possible for the mental health care professionals to reach to
them at right time. In that case, digital mental health service must be taken into consideration.
Digital mental health service means providing mental health via telephone and online
services (Health Direct Australia, 2017).
Example of another Service that may be Affected
Mental health is also related to alcohol abuse. Alcohol-use disorder is common in case
of mental health disorders. Such alcohol use disorder is strongly related to the gender. Men
are more likely to become victim of alcohol abuse while being affected with mental health
problems. Improvement in the mental health among the youth will decrease the chances of
alcohol abuse. Decrease in the alcohol consumption will in turn reduce the risk of the cardiac
anomalies, obesity and hepatic problems. Moreover improvements in mental health will also
curb the rate of smoking, mostly common among the young indigenous people in Australia
and thereby reducing the chances of respiratory problems (Teesson, Hall, Lynskey &
Degenhardt, 2010).
Conclusion
So from the above discussion it can be concluded that government of Australia has
framed several policies to uplift the mental health set up among the Australian population.
However, there lie certain gaps in the approach. Proper funding is not enough to stabilise the
mental health setup. Adequate survey, rigours cancelling and digital mental health setup are
few of the most important way to fight back against such problems.

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References
Evaluation of Suicide Prevention Activities. (2014). 1st ed. [ebook] Melbourne: Australian
Health Care Associate, p.7. Available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/4FD5C304C536BDE3
CA257CAF0017ADE9/$File/evalsuic.pdf [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Health.gov.au. (2016). Department of Health | Fifth National Mental Health Plan. [online]
Available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/mental-
fifth-national-mental-health-plan [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Improving Mental Health Services. (2017). Mental Health Australia. Retrieved 12 October
2017, from https://mhaustralia.org/our-work/improving-mental-health-services
Improving mental health. (2017). About.healthdirect.gov.au. Retrieved 12 October 2017,
from https://about.healthdirect.gov.au/improving-mental-health
Jorm, A. F., Bourchier, S. J., Cvetkovski, S., & Stewart, G. (2012). Mental health of
Indigenous Australians: a review of findings from community surveys. Medical
Journal of Australia, 196(2), 118.
Kidd, S., Kenny, A., & McKinstry, C. (2015). The meaning of recovery in a regional mental
health service: an action research study. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(1), 181-192.
McGorry, P. D., Goldstone, S. D., Parker, A. G., Rickwood, D. J., & Hickie, I. B. (2014).
Cultures for mental health care of young people: an Australian blueprint for
reform. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(7), 559-568.
McGorry, P., Bates, T., & Birchwood, M. (2013). Designing youth mental health services for
the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 202(s54), s30-s35.
Mhsa.aihw.gov.au. (2017). National mental health policies and strategies. [online] Available
at: https://mhsa.aihw.gov.au/national-policies/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Publichospitalfunding.gov.au. (2017). National Health Reform Agreement summary | Public
Hospital Funding. [online] Available at:

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http://www.publichospitalfunding.gov.au/national-health-reform/agreement
[Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Teesson, M., Hall, W., Lynskey, M., & Degenhardt, L. (2000). Alcohol‐and drug‐use
disorders in Australia: implications of the National Survey of Mental Health and
Wellbeing. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34(2), 206-213.