Media Release

10 October 2006

ANF welcomes mental health week initiatives

The Australian Nursing Federation has welcomed the initiatives announced by the Federal Government as part of mental health week, and the commitment to improve the availability of and access to mental health services for the Australian community.

ANF Federal Secretary Jill Iliffe welcomed the recognition of the integral role played by mental health nurses and hoped some of the initiatives would allow mental health nurses to practice to their full potential.

Services for people with mental health problems would be vastly improved if the allocation of $583 million over five years for new Medicare items in mental health included rebates for people accessing services delivered by mental health nurses.

Ms Iliffe said the chronic shortage of psychiatric and psychology services, particularly in rural and remote areas, demanded an urgent recognition and development of the role of mental health nurses.

Providing rebates for people who see mental health nurses would greatly improve community access to much needed services. The ANF strongly endorses the development of mental health nurse practitioners as a logical means to improving both access and quality of care in mental health.

All levels of government must now work collaboratively to ensure that the additional funding results in dramatically improved services for people with mental health problems and their families’, Ms Iliffe said.

Media inquiries
Jill Iliffe, Federal Secretary  0419 576 590
Ged Kearney, Assistant Federal Secretary 0417 053 322