carers

The MHCA commends the Therapeutic Goods Administration for examining methods to improve transparency of regulatory processes and looks forward to further work in this area. The TGA needs to be open to the input of stakeholders, particularly consumers and carers, to ensure it is catering to their information needs. Mechanisms for stakeholder input beyond invitations to respond to a review should be examined.

In this Issue: Mental Health Forums; The Minister’s Forums; The Ongoing Stigma of Mental Health; Launch of Carers Report 2010; Adverse Event Reporting; Our Consumer Place; Staff Changes at the MHCA ; Changes to the MHCA Board; National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Representation

The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum and the MHCA strongly support the development and implementation of a National Carer Strategy, in particular a consideration of issues for specific groups, as their needs and issues are quite distinct form other carers.

This Bill marks a significant shift in policy and the MHCA commends efforts to improve safeguards on the use of compulsory orders and restrictive interventions, encourage increased carer involvement and provide more responses to specific patient needs. However, we stress the importance of national standards in addition to human rights for mental health services.

In this Issue: World Mental Health Day Forum, 7 October 2010; Speech by Tony Fowke AM , President of the World Federation for Mental Health; Consensus Close but Funding Gets in the Way; World Mental Health Day Awareness Campaign; Mental Health Input to PBAC Decisions; Supporting and Developing the Consumer and Carer Identified Workforce; NMHCCF Launches Mental Health Consumer and Carer Workforce Paper; MHCA WMHD Photography Competition; Ombudsman’s Report; Disability Employment Issues Update; MHCA Office Bake-off

The MHCA strongly supports Australia ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities . We are pleased that a number of articles explicitly refer to mental illness. However, there are areas that could be strengthened, particularly discrimination on the basis of disability. Freedom from cruel or inhuman treatment and protecting the integrity of the person are key mental health consumer issues and need greater attention within the mental health sector. Employment and housing support are essential areas of focus to ensure people with mental illness-related disability are encouraged to fully participate as members of their community.

The MHCA and the NMHCCF strongly support the development of a social insurance scheme for disability long-term care and support in Australia. The scheme should be designed around people with a disability developing their own support packages and becoming purchasers of the services they need.

Any consideration of the needs of older Australians must look at how well their mental health needs are being met. To enable these improvements, the Australian Government must acknowledge and act on the recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s final report A Healthier Future for all Australians , in the areas of mental health and aged care.

This submission emphasises that the key outcomes agreed at the April COAG meeting and the initiative announced thereafter do little to address the crisis in the mental health sector in Australia and will do little to reduce the health system’s reliance on hospitals in the short term.

This submission discusses the negative impact that Internet use can have on young people. In particular, cyber-bullying and the risk of mental health issues, as well as the worst case scenario outcome of suicide.