The change that Australia has to make

However, the country's desire to move away from these terrible institutions has prompted many people to find inexpensive solutions that an expert warns of the need for change.

"We need a complete redesign of our system," Patrick McGorry, a professor at the University of Melbourne, told News.com. "Before, we had large asylums in quiet environments, but we reduced the number of beds by 10 and piled them up in acute care hospitals."

Psychiatric units have since been built wherever there was space – on hospital carparks or crammed into small spaces, such as the area between two buildings, "as an afterthought", said Professor McGorry.

"We got rid of the old asylums in the 1990s, but we instead grouped a small number of beds in acute care hospitals," said Professor McGorry, executive director of Orygen, the National Center. of excellence for youth mental health.

"There was no thought in the design or if they would work for people, most were made on the cheap and they are as disappointing as the wards in the old psychiatric hospitals."

Now the suicide rate in Australia is on the rise and more and more people are asking more and more to change the treatment of mental health.

News.com.au highlighted men's mental health issues as part of their campaign The silent killer: make noise in support of Gotcha4Life and Movember.

This week, Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews announced that, if the Labor Party were re-elected in November, it would provide $ 13.2 million to a Royal Commission on Mental Health.

"More than 3,000 Australians commit suicide each year," said Andrews in a statement.

"Imagine what we would do if 3000 people were killed on the street in this country?"

The federal, state and territorial governments already spend about $ 9 billion a year on mental health, which is $ 1 million an hour. Despite this significant funding, 3,128 people committed suicide in 2017, an increase of 9.1% over 2016.

What Australia is doing obviously does not work.

Mental illness affects about 4 million Australians and every day eight Australians commit suicide.

Professor McGorry said that Australia innovated in the field of mental health by developing programs such as headspace, aimed at young people, but that it was not good to develop them and to develop them. make accessible to all, in the same way as a treatment conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

The World Health Organization noted in 2013 that no country in the world could claim that its services reach all who need them.

"In terms of equity in health care, Australia is as bad as any other country," said Professor McGorry. "If we can not change and invest more in expert care, people will continue to die prematurely.

"We could get much better levels of recovery from mental illness and productivity. It is possible, but there is currently a huge waste of human potential. "

WE NEED A ROYAL COMMISSION

Professor McGorry, a former Australian of the year and sponsor of the Australian Mental Health Campaign, praised the possible Royal Commission in Victoria.

Although studies have already been conducted on these issues, Professor McGorry said that an investigation would provide a bridge to change, just like the recent Royal Commission on Violence Against Women. the family.

"Personally, I think we have a very clear idea of ​​what needs to be done," he said. "But unless you clarify the situation, disseminate the stories and put the badysis and the solutions on the table in public, it is very difficult to create the public and political support necessary for the investment. ".

In particular, Professor McGorry said that it was necessary to provide the "missing intermediate" services.

He said that there were probably a million Australians whose mental health problems were too complex to be managed by a GP or community services, but who were not yet desperate enough to end up in an emergency service.

"We see people living on the streets or dead by suicide, which could have been avoided," he said.

Professor McGorry thinks that we need to set up more specialized community hubs, which work with generalists and other groups such as headspace.

The professor has been named chairman of the future royal commission and has called on the liberal party of Victoria to support it too, but that does not seem likely.

News.com.au asked Liberal Leader Matthew Guy that he would support the royal commission and his spokesman spoke about the statements of opposition spokeswoman Emma Kealy. She added that funding for mental health in the community had been reduced under Andrew's leadership and that the Labor Party had lost control of population growth.

"We now have more people sharing fewer mental health services," she said.

"If Daniel Andrews really wants to do more for mental health, he will start by canceling his cuts and finding more funds to match the growth of the population that has occurred under his leadership."

According to the 2018-2019 budget documents, spending on mental health in the community in Victoria has decreased, although this "reflects the gradual introduction of the National Disability Insurance Plan".

According to Professor McGorry, the NDIS has only helped 10% of people with the most serious forms of mental illness.

"It's largely out of place for the majority of people with mental illness," he said. "I do not hit him, it's good for people with a physical disability, but he's a minor player in dealing with mentally ill people."

WHAT DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DO?

The federal government provides just over half of the money spent on mental health (it spent about $ 4.7 billion this year), but some think it could be better targeted.

On October 7, the Morrison government announced the creation of a Productivity Commission survey on the role of mental health in the Australian economy. A final report is expected in about 18 months.

The survey will reveal the real impact of mental illness on the economy and make recommendations on how the government can most effectively improve the mental health of the population and social and economic participation. .

Professor McGorry believes that the investigation, as well as that of the royal commission, could provide guidance on how to improve the system.

But he fears that the government will not fund the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. The survey was conducted in 1997 and 2007 but was not funded in 2017.

In response to requests from news.com.au, a spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Health said: "The survey was not designed nor planned every 10 years".

"The Department uses a range of population survey data to guide its work and has ongoing discussions with SBS on issues related to mental health data," she said.

She said that the annual ABS survey on causes of death provides a series of data on suicide, the AIHW publishes frequent updates on health services, including mental health services, and that other more localized collections such as primary health networks could be used for specific service delivery purposes.

But the opposition spokesperson on aging and mental health, Julie Collins, told news.com.au that the survey provided an important database on the prevalence of mental health problems and provided valuable data for further research and service delivery.

"We are concerned that the government is not funding this important data collection exercise," she said. "The Labor Party is firmly convinced that the investigation should not be postponed or postponed as these data are needed."

Professor McGorry said the survey should be conducted every five years, not every 10 years.

"It's a serious enough problem that it's done regularly. The data we currently have is inadequate, "he said.

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