Health experts lead Victorian royal commission into mental health
Four health stalwarts will lead Australia’s first royal commission into mental health providing expert understanding and a plan to make the system better.
Four health stalwarts will lead Australia’s first royal commission into mental health.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Sunday public policy expert Penny Armytage as the chair, to work alongside Associate Professor Alex Cockram, Professor Allan Fels and Professor Bernadette McSherry as the inquiry commissioners.
“The mental health system is in so many ways broken and that only through a royal commission, our highest and most formal way of making inquiry into important issues, can we hope to have the answers and a plan to move us forward,” Mr Andrews said.
“Until we acknowledge that and set a course to find those answers and practical plan for the future, people will continue to die, people will be forever diminished.” He also released the terms of reference which will examine how to prevent suicide, a system review, ways to help those with a mental illness and have alcohol or drug-abuse issues, and support for families.
“They (the commissioners) are going to give us both a critical understanding of where the problems are but also, a practical plan, steps we can take in partnership with others to make the system better,” Mr Andrews said, adding all recommendations would be adopted.
More than 8000 Victorians made a submission towards the terms of reference, with 23 round tables of mental-health experts and mental health sufferers to inform guidelines.
Mr Andrews admitted there would be a “big bill at the end” but labelled it an investment.
Mental Health Minster Martin Foley said the government had enlisted help of experts to find answers and prevent deaths.
“With one in five Victorians this year experiencing mental illness, we know that we do not have the answers to the broken system that operates here in Victoria,” he said, the inquiry would give practical steps.
Australian psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry will also chair an expert advisory panel to allow people not at the centre of the inquiry to still share advice.
The commissioners and Prof McGorry will decide the panel members. The commission will deliver an interim report by November 30 and a final report in October 2020.
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