Shaun Robinson: Mental Health exec on new govt targets

The government has announced a goal of between 80 and 90% of people seeking specialist and primary services getting that help faster. 

Shaun Robinson, Mental Health Foundation Chief Executive, says more is needed. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A new mental health and addiction targets are revealed as
part of the government's policy statement on health yesterday. Now,
the plan is that between eighty and ninety percent of
people seeking specialist and primary services get that help faster.
Mental Health Foundation Chief executive Sean Robinson's with us on this. Sean,
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning mane.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
We've sort of seen we've heard all this before. Haven't
we any more optimistic this time around than any other time?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well? Look, yeah, definitely. I think these are some concrete targets,
and we haven't really had those in mental health for
quite some time. That there'll be some fish shocks in there,
you know, like it's one thing to see somebody within
a week, it's another thing for them to actually get services.

(00:46):
But you know, I actually have confidence in ministers do
see that he intends this to be real. The other
thing that I think is really good is that there
are targets here about training more mental health professionals and
also targets about putting more investment into early intervention and

(01:09):
prevention of mental health problems. And you know, without targets
in those two key areas, and nothing really happens in
that in that space. So you know, this is really
setting the scene for an overarching approach to mental health,
which we've been waiting for for some time exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
So you've got a couple of things going on there,
the big picture stuff, which is getting in early and
preventing problems becoming problems. Then at the other end, you've
got the ED stuff, which is the here and now,
the rubbery nature of mental health. When you're in the
middle of an ED. What's mental health versus anything else?
Do you know what I'm saying? It gets complicated, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, I think it gets complicated an ED because there
aren't enough emergency response services. And that's the other thing
that you know that Minister Doucy has talked about is
creating a new sort of pathway for people when they're
when they're in an emergency. So you know that the

(02:12):
ED itself is not really the best place for people
who are in a mental health crime.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
That's that's why I'm asking Sean, because of course that
part of this is specific targets. You know, eighty to
ninety percent of people get you know, admitted, treated, discharged,
but depending on what they were there, I mean, was
the drug obidose of mental health issue or was it
just an idiot you know what I'm saying, And that's
that's where it becomes political.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well, yes, but it also also comes down to you know,
the right services for the right people. I mean, definitely
drug issues mask what is actually going on for people,
and we don't have enough detox type services in our
system as well, so you know, the the range of

(03:00):
challenges that need to be addressed. Actually getting a proper
response to mental health is not something that can be
fixed overnight. However, having some really clear targets in some
key areas is very important to see whether we're making
progress at all.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Good Stump Sean Good to catch up as always on Robinson,
Who's the Mental Health Foundation Chief Executive.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
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