Report shows jump in Indigenous patients seeking treatment review

THE percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Territorians with serious mental-health problems seeking a review of their treatment has almost doubled in recent years, according to a new report. READ THE FINDINGS HERE

THE percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Territorians with serious mental-health problems seeking a review of their treatment has almost doubled in just two years.

The 2019-20 Annual Report of the Northern Territory Mental Health Review Tribunal, tabled in parliament last month, revealed the percentage of matters scheduled for a hearing where the client attended and was of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background increased from 34 per cent in 2017-18 to 63 per cent in 2019-20.

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The tribunal is an independent panel that makes decisions about the treatment and care for people in the NT who suffer from a mental illness or disturbance. It deals with concerns and complaints about the treatment of a person with a mental illness. This is in the context of the number of hearings scheduled increasing over that period – from 1450 in 2017-18 to 1534 in 2019-20.

Australian Medical Association NT branch president, Dr Robert Parker, said he believed the alarming rise was because of an increase in substances making their way into Indigenous communities.

‘We get a lot of people with substance-related mental illnesses … like acute psychosis, hearing voices, having delusions,” Dr Parker said.

“There’s been an increase in the amount of substances getting into communities, like amphetamines. But also more cannabis and legal and illegal drugs.”

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He said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more predisposed to suffering psychosis in reaction to taking substances, and to taking and becoming addicted to substances. The report found the proportion of men and women having matters in the tribunal was evening out, from 22 per cent women and 77 per cent men in 2017-18 to 30 per cent women and 70 per cent men in 2019-20.

The NT Health Department did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

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Originally published as Report shows jump in Indigenous patients seeking treatment review