There’s $8.5 million in extra funding for the sector, but the Health Minister is foreshadowing cuts come May.
There’s good and bad news coming out of Health Minister Mark Butler’s forum on mental healthcare equity and access, held in Canberra on Monday.
The forum itself largely consisted of discussions around the Better Access program and how to relieve pressure in the mental health system.
Late last year, a major review of the Better Access program found it was most used by sectors of the public with the least need, while poorer Australians and people living in rural and remote areas continued to miss out.
The good news to come out of the forum is that at least $8.5 million in new funding is on its way to the sector, with the bulk – $7.5m – going toward setting up two new peak bodies.
One will represent people with lived experience of mental illness and the other will represent the carers and families of people with mental illness.
The new peak bodies were originally proposed in recommendation 22 of the Productivity Commission’s 2020 inquiry into mental health.
Most of the remaining $1 million will go to Lived Experience Australia, an existing advocacy body representing both consumers and carers, to help it continue to lead research initiatives in the space.
Lived Experience Australia chair Professor Sharon Lawn said the funding announcement came as a surprise to the organisation.
“It means that we can continue doing the full range of things that we do around capacity building and particularly around the [research] projects, [which are] our strong point,” she told The Medical Republic.
The organisation’s research projects aim to centre patient voices, and Professor Lawn views them as a form of advocacy.
Mental Health Australia, which represents various organisations in the sector, and the National Mental Health Commission both welcomed the funding announcement.
“These new peaks will be critical for enabling lived experience leadership, insights and knowledge to inform mental health reform and system improvements – a central factor in achieving quality, recovery-focused systems and services,” Commission CEO Christine Morgan said.
But as many will be aware, when the health budget giveth, the health budget can also taketh away.
Speaking on ABC radio Tuesday morning, Mr Butler acknowledged that there were some 200 measures in the health portfolio which aren’t funded past June 30.
“There were many, many, many terminating measures [left by the Coalition],” he said.
“These are ongoing programs … that have been in place for many years or even decades.
“We’re having to find the money, go through the process and the Expenditure Review Committee to make sure that those really important ongoing programs don’t fall off a cliff on the 30th of June.”
Until yesterday, Lived Experience Australia was one of the programs with funding set to expire at the end of June.
While he wouldn’t specify which programs could be going the way of NPS MedicineWise, Mr Butler said the government would be seeking to continue funding for the “services that that people have relied upon for many years” where there is “no question mark … in terms of their quality”.
When asked for an indication on the number of measures that will be snipped come budget time, Mr Butler still wasn’t giving spoilers.
“You’ll see that in the budget,” he said.
