NDIA Accountability Project

Submission 75 — Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA) (Attachment 2) — The provision of services under the NDIS for people with psychosocial disabilities related to a mental health condition

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Letter

From:

  • Name: Meegan Fitzharris MLA
  • Title(s): Member for Yerrabi; Minister for Health; Minister for Transport and City Services; Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research

To:

  • Recipient Name: Ms Liz Crowther
  • Position: President of Community Mental Health Australia
  • Address: Room 1.06, Level 1, Griffin Centre, 20 Genge Street, CANBERRA CITY ACT 2601

Dear Ms Crowther,

Thank you for your letter of 22 December 2016 to Mr Shane Rattenbury MLA, Minister for Mental Health requesting information on mental health funding. I am responding as the Acting Minister for Mental Health and I apologise for the delay in replying to you.

In 2016–17 the ACT Government is spending around $148 million to deliver mental health services in the ACT. The ACT Government is proud of its record when it comes to investment in mental health care services and facilities.

A focus on delivering improved mental health care is a high priority of the ACT Government. In recognition of this priority, the ACT Government has for the first time created a standalone portfolio position, the ACT Governments first Minister for Mental Health. The ACT Government will also be establishing an Office for Mental Health which will be empowered to provide independent advice to the community and Government on what is working or not working in the delivery of mental health services in the ACT.

I note your concern regarding the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the impact that this may have on community managed mental health services in all Australian jurisdictions. Over the course of the transition to the NDIS, the ACT Government has provided additional funding of approximately $500,000 to ensure that the required care and support is provided to consumers whose transition was delayed due to their NDIS package not yet having been developed or approved.

The community sector in the ACT also received funding from the Commonwealth through the NDIS Sector Development Fund to assist with NDIS business readiness including business model development and access to the NDIS readiness toolkit.

Transition of mental health funding from ACT Health to the National Disability Insurance Scheme

ACT Health funded mental health programs that provide long term accommodation support, independent living skills and pre-vocational training have now transitioned to the NDIS. The transition took two and a half years and was completed at the end of September 2016. The value of funding previously provided by ACT Health for community psychosocial disability providers eitherredacted: s47F - Personal privacyransitioned to the NDIS is approximately $ 4.1 million.

While the Mental Health Establishment (MHE) data for 2016-17, the first year of full NDIS transition, is not yet available, ACT Health has committed $10.3 million of funding to community managed organisations (CMOs). This does not include funding provided by other ACT Government Directorates to CMOs for mental health services, including Lifeline, Menslink and the Messenger program. In 2015-16 this funding was approximately $625,000.

The breakdown of the $10.3 million of funding committed over 2016-17 for each service type is as follows:

CMO Providers committed Service Type Funding
Advocacy and Peak Body programs 6 $2.2million
Mental Health Promotion, Prevention and Early intervention programs
Acute Step Up/Step Down (SUSD) programs
8 $2.3 million

Now that the transition to the NDIS has been completed, the ACT Government is transferring the funds for most NDIS service types to the Commonwealth as its payment toward the delivery of the NDIS to our community members. The ACT Government has raised and will continue to raise issues of concern regarding the operation of the NDIS in the ACT, including issues around psychosocial disability, through the appropriate government channels as they arise.

As the national implementation of the NDIS progresses, I expect that it will generate further discussions around service co-ordination and closing service gaps. The ACT Government supports the aspiration of providing community managed services that facilitate choice, inclusion and independence for consumers with a psychosocial disability.

Once again, thank you for writing about this matter.

Yours sincerely

Megan fitzharris MLA Acting Minister for Mental Health