Since the beginning of November last year, people with a diagnosed mental disorder who are referred by their GP for psychological treatment have had their access to services cut short to just 10 appointments. The timing of these cuts has shocked mental health consumers and practitioner groups who provide therapy to distressed people accessing services in our health system, due to the fact that the changes were rushed through without waiting for a Senate Inquiry to deliver their conclusions. The final report by the Senate Committee which came just days after the cuts were introduced left the Federal Government out of touch and isolated from both The Greens and the Coalition, who made it clear they were against these changes being introduced. On 24 November 2011 Senator Penny Wright from The Greens made a public pledge that she would move to disallow the cuts to the Better Access to Mental Health Care program. Although it was clear that The Greens would not be able to overturn this decision until 7 February 2012, this announcement provided some reassurance to distressed mental health consumers and members of the general public that they would not be left stranded indefinately by our politicians. In her statement at the time, The Greens senator said:

“the current system is just not ready for the Government’s proposed changes…Whilst we understand the Government’s reasons for changing the current programs, they need to demonstrate that other programs are adequately equipped to provide services to people with severe or persistent mental illness. As such, we believe that the scheduling of these cuts should be revised to ensure continuity of care.”

We have heard from many Australians who have found it very tough over these past few months since the cuts were introduced, struggling to cope because their therapy was suddenly interrupted and they couldn’t afford ongoing treatment on their own. At the beginning of the year, the system was reset to allow ten appointments, but with no further exceptions. At the moment, it’s a case of ‘the quiet before the storm’ where for most people, access to therapy has been temporarily restored. In just a few weeks these appointments are going to start running out once again and we know that many people will need more psychological care. Highly distressed people out there will be forced into a situation where they have a diagnosed mental health disorder, but they cannot afford an appropriate length of psychological treatment.

Silence from The Greens since this announcement has left many people worried about whether a deal has been made with the Government not to proceed with their movement to disallow the cuts. The Alliance for Better Access has contacted The Greens and can confirm that there has been some negotiation with the Government – the question is whether The Greens still support the need for the Medicare system to provide access to at least 16 to 20 appointments – the minimum recommended length of treatment. So far, the Greens have been non-commital about whether they will follow through on their pledge to disallow the cuts on 7 February 2012. We are due to hear more from them tomorrow (stay tuned).