REFORMS announced on Thursday mean people with mental illnesses in the Bendigo area will have more chance of receiving help that benefits them, Mental Health Commissioner Jackie Crowe says.
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Ms Crowe, speaking in Bendigo, said primary health networks will play a greater role in shaping services based on what people need.
“For the first time ever in Australia, you’ll be able to put your hand up and say ‘This is the service I want for my community’,” she said.
Primary health networks, too, will have greater flexibility to determine what people need and deliver accordingly, Ms Crowe added.
“They will now go out and consult their communities about what their communities need.”
Bendigo was no different to any other area when it came to the types of mental illnesses people suffered, Ms Crowe said.
“(But) in Bendigo . . . we see there is very limited access to services, so people suffer in silence. They suffer with their families. They give up jobs. They give up education.”
An array of programs, some of them internet-based, would be introduced, Ms Crowe said.
“The commission will monitor (the changes),” she said.
The federal government announced on Thursday that mental health services would be less Canberra-driven and geared to give primary health networks greater control over services. As part of the changes, people with mental illnesses will have greater access to, among other things, Medicare benefits and drug and alcohol services.
Murray PHN (Primary Health Network) chief executive officer Matt Jones said changes would take effect from July 1 next year. He expected improvements to include school-based mental health services and programs for the Aboriginal community.
Ms Crowe was in Bendigo for the launch of a regional Consumer Participation Group project.
Jodie Rasmussen, consumer representative for CPG, said the project was about helping the voices of people who accessed services be heard.
“We have developed a website and will develop newsletters and conduct forums where we hope to get more contact with consumers so they can tell us their experiences,” she said. “There are some really good stories about great access and not so great ones where there are some holes and gaps in services.”