Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Shaun Robinson: Mental Health exec on new govt targets

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Shaun Robinson: Mental Health exec on new govt targets · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: A new mental health and addiction targets are revealed as
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  Speaker 1: part of the government's policy statement on health yesterday. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the plan is that between eighty and ninety percent of
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  Speaker 1: people seeking specialist and primary services get that help faster.
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  Speaker 1: Mental Health Foundation Chief executive Sean Robinson's with us on this. Sean,
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  Speaker 1: very good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning mane.
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  Speaker 1: We've sort of seen we've heard all this before. Haven't
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  Speaker 1: we any more optimistic this time around than any other time?
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  Speaker 2: Well? Look, yeah, definitely. I think these are some concrete targets,
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  Speaker 2: and we haven't really had those in mental health for
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  Speaker 2: quite some time. That there'll be some fish shocks in there,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like it's one thing to see somebody within
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  Speaker 2: a week, it's another thing for them to actually get services.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, I actually have confidence in ministers do
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  Speaker 2: see that he intends this to be real. The other
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  Speaker 2: thing that I think is really good is that there
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  Speaker 2: are targets here about training more mental health professionals and
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  Speaker 2: also targets about putting more investment into early intervention and
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  Speaker 2: prevention of mental health problems. And you know, without targets
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  Speaker 2: in those two key areas, and nothing really happens in
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  Speaker 2: that in that space. So you know, this is really
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  Speaker 2: setting the scene for an overarching approach to mental health,
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  Speaker 2: which we've been waiting for for some time exactly.
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  Speaker 1: So you've got a couple of things going on there,
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  Speaker 1: the big picture stuff, which is getting in early and
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  Speaker 1: preventing problems becoming problems. Then at the other end, you've
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  Speaker 1: got the ED stuff, which is the here and now,
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  Speaker 1: the rubbery nature of mental health. When you're in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of an ED. What's mental health versus anything else?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know what I'm saying? It gets complicated, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it gets complicated an ED because there
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  Speaker 2: aren't enough emergency response services. And that's the other thing
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  Speaker 2: that you know that Minister Doucy has talked about is
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  Speaker 2: creating a new sort of pathway for people when they're
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  Speaker 2: when they're in an emergency. So you know that the
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  Speaker 2: ED itself is not really the best place for people
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  Speaker 2: who are in a mental health crime.
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  Speaker 1: That's that's why I'm asking Sean, because of course that
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  Speaker 1: part of this is specific targets. You know, eighty to
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  Speaker 1: ninety percent of people get you know, admitted, treated, discharged,
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  Speaker 1: but depending on what they were there, I mean, was
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  Speaker 1: the drug obidose of mental health issue or was it
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  Speaker 1: just an idiot you know what I'm saying, And that's
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  Speaker 1: that's where it becomes political.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yes, but it also also comes down to you know,
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  Speaker 2: the right services for the right people. I mean, definitely
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  Speaker 2: drug issues mask what is actually going on for people,
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  Speaker 2: and we don't have enough detox type services in our
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  Speaker 2: system as well, so you know, the the range of
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  Speaker 2: challenges that need to be addressed. Actually getting a proper
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  Speaker 2: response to mental health is not something that can be
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  Speaker 2: fixed overnight. However, having some really clear targets in some
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  Speaker 2: key areas is very important to see whether we're making
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  Speaker 2: progress at all.
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  Speaker 1: Good Stump Sean Good to catch up as always on Robinson,
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  Speaker 1: Who's the Mental Health Foundation Chief Executive.
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