Victoria’s mental health system needs urgent reform, ‘catastrophically failed’

Damning report finds a ‘broken’ system operating in ‘crisis mode’ and in need of urgent reform.

The damning report found Victoria’s current system operated in ‘crisis mode’ and reacted to mental health issues rather than prevent them. Picture: Supplied

Victorians face a possible new levy after a royal commission found the mental health system “catastrophically failed” people seeking psychological support and needed a complete overhaul.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday would not rule out a levy to fund “every one” of the 65 recommendations handed down by the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, including seclusion and restraint being abolished within 10 years and compulsory treatments being used only as a last resort.

“We have got to do that very important work over the next few months as we get into the budget in May,” Mr Andrews said. “We will be mindful that Victorians have been through a lot last year so additional charges, you know, we will be very careful about that.

“This is a journey we have got to lock into. Everyone has to be locked into this, and it will cost.

“We are all paying the cost of failure now.”

 

Key issues identified by the inquiry included an over-reliance on medication as the “main, or sometimes only, treatment people can receive” due to under-resourcing.

It found the system was “overwhelmed” and couldn’t keep up with the number of people needing care, with available support a “patchwork” of ­services.

The inquiry, which spanned two years and received more than 3000 submissions mostly from individuals with lived experience of mental health issues, made 65 final operational and systemic recommen­dations to fix Victoria’s “broken” mental health system.

It said “rigid catchments” where people were restricted to limited services based on where they lived should be thrown out and replaced with eight mental health regions, while would be established with operational boards by 2023 to “lead engagement” in communities.

Up to 60 new adult and older adult local mental health and wellbeing services with extended hours should be established, plus an extra 13 dedicated for children.

All triple-0 calls related to time-critical mental health issues should be directed to Ambulance Victoria and responded to by health professionals, not police.

At least 500 social housing dwellings should be provided for those aged between 18 and 25 living with mental illness and in unstable housing or homeless.

It also said anti-bullying programs should be funded and implemented in schools.

Several governance recommendations were made, including that an independent watchdog should be set up to hold the government to account for “the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system”. The commission should be led by a chair and be supported by a group of commissioners, including at least one with lived experience of mental illness, appointed by the governor in council.

The inquiry found the Mental Health Act (2014) should be repealed by no later than July 2022 and replaced with a mental health and wellbeing act to legislate a revamped commission, a chief officer for mental health and regional wellbeing and regional mental health and wellbeing boards.

In a first for the government, the commission suggested a new agency be established led by people with lived experience of mental illness to help with future service delivery.

The two-year commission was led by Penny Armytage, who said “pragmatic” reforms had been recommended to “mend a broken system and make it fit for purpose.”

“In thinking about how to reform a system … that catastrophically failed to live up to expect­ations, we had to think very hard about what the big levers for change would be,” she said. “Central to that was the platform around lived experience, the voice of consumers being far more influential in our future system,” she said.