Mental Health – Government Consultation Day with Social Workers and OTs
10 June 2010
Dear [FirstName],
As I advised in the previous e-bulletin, the Minister for Health and Ageing has committed to a consultation with members affected by the proposed changes to the Better Access program and other mental health programs. I’m pleased to be able to say that the Minister is hosting a forum with social workers and OTs on June 24 in Parliament House, Canberra.
Letter from the Minister 3 June 2010
Last Friday I received a letter from Minister Roxon in response to concerns I had voiced about Departmental staff responses to the Senate Estimates Hearings. In her letter she said:
“The Australian Government recognises the valuable clinical skills that social workers have brought to support people with mental illness, as part of integrated, team-based care, and their depth of experience in ensuring a range of supports for those most in need in our community...
I note from your letter of 3 June 2010 your concerns about the evidence of officers of the Department of Health and Ageing at the Budget Estimates Hearings in response to questioning about the Better Access initiative…. I wish to reiterate my commitment to work closely with AASW…
The Department is …working with my office to organize a targeted consultation forum with social workers and occupational therapists to commence these discussions”.
Consultation meeting
The Federal Government has offered a consultation with AASW social workers and Occupational Therapy Australia OT’s to gain their views on:
• the design and implementation of the new coordinated care packages for people with severe illness, and how we can maximise the skills and experience of social workers and occupational therapists in delivering the care packages;
• how we can ensure current Commonwealth mental health programs better use the clinical skills of social workers and occupational therapists; and
• better use of fee-for-service Medicare items.
The consultation meeting is to be held on June 24 from 9.30am – 3.30pm at Parliament house, Canberra. Attendees will need to travel to Canberra on 23 June (or early on June 24) and so will need to arrange their home / work commitments. The Department will meet the costs of and arrange our members’ travel, meals and accommodation and will also pay members a sitting fee of $283 for their attendance. The latter will be paid to the AASW for distribution. The Minister plans to be at the consultation for an hour and her Chief of Staff and Senior Department officials will be participating in the day.
I recognise that there isn’t much time for members to prepare. But if we want our voices to be influential, we need to provide our input in time for it to have an impact on government policy formation. So, in good faith, we are supporting the consultation on 24 June and I urge members to do the same.
I know that some of you will be cynical about the Government’s real desire to consult, but the offer to meet with members is not a common occurrence for any professional body or advocacy peak body, so we should take them at their word. If the Government does not adequately address our concerns of course we will increase our campaigning. I know many of you have started using the draft letter for GP’s sent a couple of days ago so be assured that this is just one of our campaigning strategies at present.
Expressions of Interest for Participation in Consultation Forum
Given that numbers for the forum are limited to 35 of our members, we have decided to facilitate the process through expressions of interest (EOIs).
If you are interested and would be available to attend please send an expression of interest (to download the EOI form click here). Please send all EOIs via email to ceo@aasw.asn.au marked EOI Better Access consult in the subject line by 12 noon Monday 14th June, 2010. Please understand that we are unable to accept phone applications or requests for inclusion.
We are asking you to include the following:
• Comprehensive contact information including your full name as it appears on your photo ID (for flight bookings) address, mobile and land line numbers as well as email addresses and physical addresses
• Your branch
• Where you are based e.g. in an urban, outer suburban, rural, regional, or remote area
• Your clinical expertise (i.e formal qualifications and when you achieved them, accredited mental health provider status)
• Whether you have been in touch with the CEO by email during this process with detailed explanations of practice, ideas regarding ATAPS and/or alternate policy options (such as new MBS items) - please direct us to your previous email rather than re-writing (this is so we can get a better view of your area of expertise)
• The population with which you work (e.g. do you have a focus on providing services to people on low incomes, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, issues of family violence etc) describe your work - please be specific and if you have previously written, add anything additional to what you have previously written
• Whether you are a member of the National Mental Health Committee or a Branch private practice or Mental Health practice group, or any other formal group in your area.
• Support documentation from GP, Division of GP or other Allied Health Professional if possible.
• Whether you employ others (professional social workers, other professionals or anyone else?).
• A brief summary of your model of practice: what do you/your service offer that would otherwise not be offered? Would your clients have managed to access mental health care without your service? What improvements in the mental health profile of clients have you seen?
• Does your practice, using Better Access or ATAPS, dovetail with any other funding from government / non government sources? What level of support does your service provide to other services/GP practices in your area? Without Better Access would other services be able to refer your current clients elsewhere?
• What data are you able to input to the consultation process? For example how many clients do you see? How many are bulk-billed? What other partnering organisations and professionals do you work with etc?
• Tell us about the investment in the developmental side of your work - development of your partnerships, type of partnerships etc since the beginning of Better Access Initiative in Nov 2006
• Provide your previous experience in public consultations or on representative committees (we need to be sure that all participants are confident, articulate respectful speakers and able to actively participate in a group of 40)
• Research undertaken with respect to Social Work practice with people with mental health issues (as applicable)
I know this is a long list, so please keep your responses as concise as possible. I anticipate many more than 35 members will want to attend; so it will be a difficult task to achieve balanced representation and showcase the range of skills and experience members have.
The majority of members selected to attend will be those affected by the proposed changes to Better Access, but we also need members to represent other mental health programs so those with current experience in State, Territory, Federal or non-Government services should also consider if they can bring a well articulated position to assist this process. We will also be including 1-2 Social Work mental health specialist academics and a member who is also a senior person in a Division of General Practice.
Please note only AASW financial member social workers will be eligible to attend the consultation.
If you are not selected to attend please be assured that the information you provide (other than your personal details) will be fed into the lobbying we do with the Department and government.
The agenda for the consultation will be forwarded to successful applicants as soon as available.
RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW - ONLY 20 DAYS TO THE END OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR.
Kind regards
Kandie
Kandie Allen-Kelly
BSocWk MPhil MAASW (Acc)
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Association of Social Workers
P.O. Box 4956
Kingston ACT 2604
Tel: +61 2 6232 3900
Membership: 1800 630 124
ceo@aasw.asn.au
www.aasw.asn.au
|
