The Health News – 27 November 2015

Overview:
• Australians crippled by mental illness will receive individual care plans as part of a Federal Government overhaul of the multi-billion-dollar sector. An online and telephone one-stop-shops will be established directing people to appropriate services, as the Government abandons the current “one-size-fits-all” approach.

• There is widespread violence and abuse of people with a disability in institutional and residential settings, a Senate report has found. After an inquiry hearings chaired by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, across the country the report made 30 recommendations, including a call for sweeping changes to the regulation of disability workers and the way abuse is reported. The inquiry was chaired by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

• Medical staff at a Pilbara hospital failed to properly check the vital signs of an Aboriginal woman, Ms Dhu who died in police custody, a doctor who tried to resuscitate her has told a coronial inquest.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 27th November 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-26/mental-health-overhaul-announced/6975586

Australians crippled by mental illness will receive individual care plans as part of a Federal Government overhaul of the multi-billion-dollar sector.

And online and telephone one-stop-shops will be established directing people to appropriate services, as the Government abandons the current “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Patients are currently entitled to 10 Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions annually, but concerns have been raised this is not adequate for those with multiple needs.

People with severe and complex needs will have access to an “integrated care package”, including psychological services, mental health nursing, along with drug and alcohol services.

“We are setting out a blueprint for reform that puts the individual at the centre of our mental health system,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said.

The changes will also provide extra funding for Indigenous mental health and see Primary Health Networks commission the services needed by mentally ill people in their regions.

Overall funding will not be increased, with the Federal Government currently spending about $10 billion on mental health each year.

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The Government will establish a single mental health hotline to direct people to appropriate services, after the review found more than 30 Government-supported phone and online mental health services.

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The Government said individual funding plans would be similar to the National Disability Insurance Scheme model.

The Government’s 31 Primary Health Networks will commission services they consider needed in their communities.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-26/widespread-violence-of-people-with-disability-in-institutions/6974798

There is widespread violence and abuse of people with a disability in institutional and residential settings, a Senate report has found.

After inquiry hearings across the country the report made 30 recommendations, including a call for sweeping changes to the regulation of disability workers and the way abuse is reported.

The most significant recommendation was the call for a royal commission to investigate the issue.

During the public hearings Jane Rosengrave, who lives with an intellectual disability, told her story to the inquiry.

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Ms Rosengrave said she vividly remembers physical and sexual abuse in institutions including when she was 13 and asked permission to go swimming.

“So I went down to the front office and I told the headmaster,” she said.

“He said to me ‘first do me a big favour’ and I said ‘what?’.

“He said ‘go in that other room, pull your pants down and wait for me’.

“So after that then he said ‘I’ll ring up the ward and make sure you go swimming this afternoon, so don’t tell anybody please’.”

The reports from the Senate inquiry make 30 recommendations dealing with matters from regulating disability workers to reforming how the legal system treats people with a disability.

But it was the stories of pervasive violence and abuse that made the most impact.

The inquiry was chaired by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, who said it was difficult to hear some of the accounts of abuse being told at the hearings.

The report’s number one recommendation was a call for a royal commission into violence, abuse and neglect of people with a disability in institutional and residential care.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-26/medical-staff-did-not-check-ms-dhu-vital-signs-properly-inquest/6977712

Medical staff at a Pilbara hospital failed to properly check the vital signs of an Aboriginal woman who died in police custody, a doctor who tried to resuscitate her has told a coronial inquest.

Ms Dhu, … died at Hedland Health Campus in August last year from septicaemia and pneumonia after being detained in the South Hedland police lock-up over unpaid fines.

She had been taken to hospital by police officers three times in less than 48 hours.

…  the inquest  [was told] hospital staff failed to record a full set of observations for Ms Dhu on her second visit, and her medical notes were not as comprehensive as they should have been.

He also noted there were inconsistencies between Ms Dhu’s triage notes and the observations made by Vafa Naderi, the doctor who had assessed her.

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The inquest has been set down for two weeks.