Budget 2021: Better weapons for the war on suicide

The federal government will establish a national network of 40 multidisciplinary clinics to cater for people with complex mental health.

The network of clinics, dubbed Head to Health treatment centres, will provide affordable access to psychiatry and community care outside the hospital setting.

The federal government will establish a national network of 40 multidisciplinary clinics to cater for people with complex mental health needs as part of a $2.3bn investment that also aims to slash suicide rates.

The network of clinics, dubbed Head to Health treatment centres, will provide affordable access to psychiatry and community care outside the hospital setting for thousands of people with chronic ill-health but whose conditions are not acute enough to necessitate inpatient hospital care.

This cohort of patients was dubbed “the missing middle” by the Productivity Commission as their needs were too complex to be dealt with by a GP or through Medicare-funded psychiatry, but they often could not afford private psychiatric care.

There are eight Head to Health treatment centres already operating, which will now be permanently funded, with the network extended nationally at a cost of $487.2m. It will have a dedicate national phone service to support intake, assessment and referral. The network of headspace clinics for teenagers will also be expanded with 10 new centres and five satellite centres costing $278m, taking the number of headspace clinics nationwide to 164.

And the federal government is also establishing 15 new mental health and wellbeing clinics for children up to 12 years old to improve early intervention services. The three networks of clinics will cost a total of $820m.

The government’s aim is to provide mental healthcare early in life, and early in a patient’s experience of distress, to avoid the need for in-hospital care in the future. The total spend on mental health treatment is $1.4bn, and also includes support services for people with eating disorders and their families, a new National Eating Disorder Research Centre.

Group therapy sessions for families will also be funded by Medicare for the first time.

A new National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement will be pursued with the states to facilitate reforms.

The government is also spending $288.5m to fund on Medicare a treatment called Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for people with medication-resistant major depressive disorder.

As part of the push for prevention and early intervention, the government is spending $112m to establish a digital professional counselling platform, incorporating peer support, clinical support and referrals.

It’s also spending almost $300m to combat suicide, including $61.6m on suicide prevention activities and services.

There is also $202m for bolstering the mental healthcare workforce; more nurses, psychologists and allied health practitioners through scholarships and clinical placements; $11m for more training places for psychiatrists especially in regional and remote settings, and a $15.9m boost for GPs providing primary mental healthcare.

Other announcements include $250.9m over four years for preventive healthcare, $135.4bn over five years for public hospitals and $22m to overhaul the prostheses list.

In addition, the budget has flagged reform to the Medicare Levy Surcharge and the private health insurance rebate. The government is keeping income tiers the same for two years, but will commission an “in-depth study of the effectiveness of current regulatory settings”, in line with a push by insurers and the Australian Medical Association to increase income tiers to make private health insurance more affordable.