100,000 mentally ill lose NDIS cover

Government modelling shows more than 100,000 severely mentally ill people will not be included in the $22bn NDIS.

About $1.8 billion was spent on federal, state and territory-funded community mental health programs in 2012.

Official modelling shows more than 100,000 severely mentally ill people who now receive government support will not be included in the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme, threatening a major health crisis.

The government modelling — undertaken for all health ministers by the NSW and Queensland governments and kept secret for two years — shows there are more than 500,000 people with a severe mental illness ­between the ages of 18 and 64, compared with just 57,000 places allowed by the ­Productivity Commission for the NDIS. Adjusted for population growth, the NDIS allows 64,000 in this category at full rollout.

Using the unpublished findings of the National Mental Health Service Planning Framework, it is understood about 290,000 mentally ill ­patients ­require some form of community support each year, such as individual help, group support or non-acute residential care.

The modelling shows that as programs shift focus and are phased out, 100,000 people from this group of 290,000 are likely to lose all or part of their support.

Much of the current mix of programs, currently funded ­between all ­levels of government, is earmarked for closure to pay for the NDIS, which began trials in 2013 and must expand to cover 460,000 people with various disabilities by 2019-20.

Some jurisdictions, such as the ACT, have already consigned their responsibilities in the mental health area to the NDIS.

About $1.8 billion was spent on federal, state and territory-funded community mental health programs in 2012 and the NDIS is ­expected to have a budget of about the same amount, to help a much smaller number of people.

The federal Personal Helpers and Mentors program (PHaMs) and the Mental Health Carers Respite scheme are worth about $200 million a year, but this funding is due to phase out over the next three years as the NDIS gets up to full speed, despite the existence of massive waiting lists.

The Department of Health-funded Day to Day Living Program, which provides commun­ity support for the mentally ill, is also being rolled into the NDIS despite evidence that half its clients will not be eligible.

For those who are admitted to psychiatric care in a hospital, or who receive Medicare rebates on psychology and psychiatric sessions, funding will continue as normal through the federal government’s health portfolio.

In a submission to a parliamentary committee inquiry, ­obtained by The Australian, peak body Mental Health Australia says there is a troubling level of uncertainty about future treatment options for people with mental health issues.

The addition of psychosocial disability into the NDIS was an afterthought by the Gillard government, responding to lobbying by the sector. But Productivity Commission modelling appears to have been taken from the number of people with a primary psychiatric disability who accessed psychiatric services in 2011-12, which was 56,733.

This figure, according to Mental Health Australia, is only a measure of people who accessed the services, not the actual number who needed them.

“With some important design principles still to be confirmed, it is unclear how the scheme will complement and interact with service systems outside the NDIS, both in the immediate ­future and as the scheme ­matures,” the MHA says.

“Similarly, we do not yet understand in sufficient detail where the ‘border’ between the NDIS and other systems will be drawn, or how systems on either side of that border will relate to each other.’’

Earlier this month the Mental Health Foundation ACT announced with “profound regret” closure of the Rainbow service, which provided rehabilitation and social support for people with psychiatric disorders, ­because of the slow transition to the NDIS.

The Australian understands a stand-off between the federal ­departments of health and ­social services has contributed to the government’s lethargic ­response to mental health policy.

A spokeswoman for the ­Department of Social Services said the two departments “are both contributing funding to the NDIS associated with community mental health support and work together in this ­regard”.

“There is no evidence from the three-year trial of the ­National Disability Insurance Scheme, which ended on June 30th this year, to suggest that the estimates of number of participants expected to enter the scheme with psychosocial disability are inaccurate,” the spokeswoman said.

“Taking into account population growth, in 2019-20 it is ­estimated that there will be 64,000 NDIS participants with a primary condition of psychosocial disability.

“Any of our commonwealth clients who are not eligible for the NDIS will receive continuity of support.’’