Mental health system needs reform
"More funding for mental health services is crucial but unless we overhaul the current system and defund ineffective programs, we will be throwing good money after bad," says Professor Ian Hickie.
鈥淔or too long we have been pumping scarce resources into a dysfunctional system riddled by silos and an absence of independent monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness,鈥� says Professor Hickie in an editorial published today in the Sax Institute鈥檚 journal聽.
鈥淢any parts of the system continue to put practitioners and policy makers, not patients, at the centre. It is incumbent on all of us in the sector to acknowledge and address these systemic problems, instead of hiding under the doona.鈥�
, who is Co-Director of the said the time was right to address these issues, as Australia had recently embarked on the most radical attempt to reshape mental health services in the past 30 years and the National Disability Insurance Scheme was set to play a major role in the mental health sector.
We need a system that puts patients and their families at the heart not just of care, but of the wider decision making process.
鈥淲e know from Australian and international experience that the best way to deliver higher-quality mental health care is through multidisciplinary teams. In many cases, however, these are resisted by professional organisations that prioritise fee-for-service, solo-practitioner or single-professional group styles of practice.
We also continue to prioritise funding into institutional settings when we know that community-based psychosocial, primary and community health services can have the most impact.
鈥淲e also need a system that puts patients and their families at the heart not just of care, but of the wider decision making process. Although the era of hierarchies and the 鈥榙octor knows best鈥� mentality is over, many have not caught up to this reality.聽
鈥淔inally, we need independent, national evaluation of programs. This will create a true picture of what is working and what isn鈥檛, meaning we can direct resources accordingly. Where services can show their effectiveness, they should be supported with increased resources. But services that are not having an impact should not be supported forever.鈥�
Professor Hickie said the latest issue of聽Public Health Research & Practice聽focussed on how to overhaul and improve the mental health sector, with papers from consumers and systems thinkers, and examples of innovative programs that are already being rolled out.
鈥淚t should be required reading for everyone in the sector,鈥� he said.