Mental health system needs shake-up
A new report has shown Australia鈥檚 mental health system has been hampered by poor design, making it impossible to know if the $28 billion spent annually on supporting people is effective.
Federal mental health minister Mark Butler, beyondblue and Medibank executives, who commissioned the report, revealed the findings last week in Melbourne.
The report revealed governments had invested four times more than the previous estimate into supporting people with mental illnesses.
In spite of this, a significant number of people with a mental illness did not seek treatment and for those who did seek treatment, their needs were not often met or were more unhappy with services provided than people who used other health services.
Beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell said the issue was not about money but about addressing these systemic problems urgently so millions of Australians with a mental illness could access the appropriate services.
