Speak Out April 2021

POLICY & ADVOCACY

Our response to the Royal

Mental Health

S peech Pathology Australia has welcomed the recent release of the Royal Commission Report into Victoria’s mental health system. The Association believes that although specifically addressing the Victorian setting, the findings will likely influence policies and services nationwide over the coming years due to its focus on more consumer co-designed and led services, streamlined care, broader and more diverse models of care including multidisciplinary teams across the lifespan, and focus on providing people with support in their local community and out of hospital. The release of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system has been heralded by many as the biggest change to the mental health system since the mainstreaming of mental health services in the 1980s and deinstitutionalisation in the 1990s. The current Victorian mental health system has been labelled as “broken” and therefore the Royal Commission was set up to investigate how it could be fixed. Speech Pathology Australia’s 18-page submission was one of 3,200 submissions forwarded in 2019 and it is therefore pleasing that this submission was referenced in the final report. The final report made a total of 65 recommendations, some of particular note include: a focus on improving the governance of the system with a bigger emphasis on driving innovation and evaluation; establishing a responsive and integrated system which consists of multidisciplinary, holistic and integrated treatment, care and support that reflects consumer choice and preferences; co-design of services with people with a lived experience; increases in the consumer-led workforce and services; broader and more diverse Commission into Victoria's mental health system

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Speak Out | April 2021