The final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system found Barwon Health had the longest wait time in the state across a sample of services forautism spectrum disorder assessments.Estimated wait times to access the Autism Spectrum Disorder Assessment Program at Barwon Health had blown out to 22 months in 2020.“Access to timely autism assessments in the public mental health system is essential for infant or child development and the wellbeing of the family, carers and supporters,” the report said.Geelong Addy’s newsletters“In the future system, Infant, Child and Family Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services will address the unacceptable wait times.”Barwon Health CEO Frances Diver said there had been an in increase in demand for autism assessment that was challenging to manage. “We have recently invested in more staffing to reduce our waiting list, which we expect will improve over the next 12 months,” she said.The report said Barwon Health explained that when consumers and referrers struggled to navigate the complex mental health system, consumers ultimately ended up seeking help from the emergency system.“Barwon Health observed, ‘the funding is capped and insufficient to meet demand in areas such as Geelong, which has experienced significant population growth’,” the report said.The report revealed a clear definition of the role of statewide services is absent in the architecture of the current system.Barwon Health mental health and drugs and alcohol services clinical director Associate Professor Steve Moylan told the commission the model needed to be flipped from prescribing services based on what is available within a region, to facilitating access to the required care for people using local and specialist networks across the state, whenever and wherever they need it.Premier Daniel Andrews told the Geelong Advertiser the way Victoria currently used “pretty arbitrary” lines to try and define communities of interest for the purposes of mental health care “doesn’t really work”.“That’s why a redrawing of things so they’re much more local, that’s a key finding,” Mr Andrews said. mental health 360 supportMental Health Minister James Merlino said work will begin now regarding how areas are defined under the reformed system. Ms Diver there was a strong emphasis in this report that services need to be resourced adequately to meet the needs of the community, that people using the services need to be linked into their community, and those people need to actively help shape the system going forward.“Barwon Health looks forward to being a leading voice in that agenda for change and we truly appreciate the bipartisan commitment to include consumers and carers in the collaborative design and delivery of services that will benefit regional communities,” Ms Diver said.If you or someone you know needs mental health help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.



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