Senate Committee Report on Mental Health

Dr Haikerwal said the AMA has carefully examined the almost-600-page report and believes it reflects the views of the people who live and work in the mental health system every day as clinicians, carers and patients.

"The Senators have listened carefully and responded with ideas and solutions to make things better," Dr Haikerwal said.

"Some of the criticisms of the medical profession, particularly psychiatrists, which are documented in the report, are not shared by the AMA. Regardless, they do not detract from the overall quality and value of the report.

"The report is based on broad consultation and it is bipartisan, and we can only hope that some of the recommendations find their way into the COAG announcements on mental health expected later this year."

Dr Haikerwal said the AMA highlights the following Committee recommendations for serious consideration by the Federal Government and COAG:

• the recommendation to substantially lift the level of funding into mental health to between 9 and 12 per cent of health spending. This represents a big increase if the Government opts for the top end of that range, as it should.

• the recommendation to establish 300-400 community-based mental health centres. There is a need to work through the detail of this, as these centres will be tremendously expensive, so it will be vital that the money is spent wisely building upon existing resources and facilities. There must be minimal bureaucracy and red tape, and there must be ways to bring together the public and private psychiatrists in these centres. There are not enough psychiatrists in the system at the moment, let alone having to find an extra 300-400 psychiatrists for these centres.

• the recommendations for MBS items to encourage a greater use of multidisciplinary teams. It must be noted that the psychiatrists and GPs are the only ones who are equipped to establish a psychiatric diagnosis so they must lead the clinical team. Psychiatrists can guide the care provided by the GPs who can look after ongoing management of the patient in many situations. The AMA welcomes the development of ways to involve the psychologists and nurses in these teams.

• the recommendation to increase the number of training places for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.