Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise this evening to speak about mental health services in Tasmania. I am constantly being contacted by people about mental health services here; they are often not able to access the support they need. I have heard from people who have been bounced back and forth between mental health services and alcohol and drug services. I have heard from people who were discharged from mental health facilities and there was no communication with their GP afterwards on discharge. I have heard from people who are finding it difficult to find the right service. There seems to be a general lack of services in Tasmania.
My understanding, after having been in my position for over 12 months now, is that the mental health space is quite complicated. Funding is from both federal sources and state sources, and I would describe services as fragmented. As a result, people are finding that difficult to navigate, and are not always able to access the support that they need. In that context, there are concerning things happening in our state. The first concern that I would like to speak about is the announced closure of the Tolosa Street Adult Mental Health Service.
The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) has been strongly representing their members and a stop-work meeting was held last week that was well attended as a large number of workers protested the planned closure.
The Tolosa Street facility provides mental health care to people who need longer‑term support, as well as providing respite. Oftentimes there are people who come for those respite beds from the Royal Hobart Hospital, helping to reduce bed block in the Royal Hobart Hospital. They are able to go to the Tolosa Street facility and receive acute care from the registered nurses who are working there.
With the closure of the Tolosa Street facility that has been announced, these services will move to the Richmond Futures facility. This is of concern for a number of reasons. It will result in reduced services. We know that the number of beds available will be less than those available in Tolosa Street. There are no registered nurses who work at the Richmond Futures facility, meaning that the acuity of care that is able to be provided will be reduced. They will not be able to accept patients from the Royal, as has been happening, which could contribute to increases in bed block. There was no tender process for the selection of Richmond Futures. Richmond Futures have the right to refuse patients, again meaning that some patients may miss out. Ultimately this is a privatisation of mental health services in Tasmania – something that the Greens strongly oppose.
In other parts of the mental health service, I have become aware of significant changes that are taking place. I understand that the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate was disbanded two months ago and in the middle of these changes, I quote: ‘No one seems to know what’s happening’.
I have some questions for the Minister for Mental Health, that I am hoping he can answer for us:
- Can the minister confirm the disbandment of the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate?
- If the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Director Directorate has been disbanded, what has been put in place to replace the directorate?
- How will the new structure facilitate ongoing collaboration, which I understand was a positive feature of the directorate?
- How many jobs have been lost in the restructure?
- Is the closure of the Tolosa Street facility part of this restructure?
- What other facilities or services are planned for privatisation as part of restructures within the mental health service?
Given the number of concerns that are constantly being raised with me about mental health services in Tasmania, the closure and effective privatisation of a mental health facility is deeply concerning. The reported changes to the structure of mental health services are also concerning. The Greens call on the minister to provide us with answers to these questions and ultimately to ensure that public mental health services are maintained in Tasmania so that the many Tasmanians who need support are able to access it.
