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Home > Ministers > The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform, Minister for Housing and Homelessness > Media Hub > Flexible Care Package Implementation Begins Today

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PDF printable version of Flexible Care Package Implementation Begins Today (PDF 20 KB)

1 April 2011

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler announced that implementation has begun today on the Government’s Flexible Care Packages for people with severe mental illnesses.

$58.5 million was allocated in the 2010-11 Budget to provide funding for Flexible Care Packages to provide clinical and case coordination services to better support people with severe mental illness in the community delivered through Medicare Locals.

Clinical services include psychological therapy provided by specially trained providers, such as psychologists and social workers, who will be encouraged to link patients to other services in the community for people with severe illness.

Flexible Care Packages will allow Medicare Locals to purchase the services a person with a severe mental illness needs to keep them well in the community and out of hospital.

Consultations across the nation, including in regional areas, have been conducted on the design and implementation of these Flexible Care Packages. More than 70 written submissions were received.

These consultations have shown that there is:

• strong support for the implementation of the Flexible Care Packages, including from GPs who are central to supporting and finding referral pathways to other services for their patients with severe mental illness;
• a desire to see them implemented in a considered and staged way and the need for a clear and consistent process to ensure appropriate targeting to people with severe illness; and
• support for a development phase to enable essential service links and quality assurance to be arranged at a local level, before services start to roll out,

The Government has listened to the sector and based on the feedback received will implement the Flexible Care Packages in a staged approach to coincide with the establishment of the first 15 Medicare Locals.

From now until 1 July clinical governance, service delivery and quality assurance issues will be determined in consultation with relevant stakeholders. From 1 July, the 15 first Medicare Locals will become eligible for funding to provide additional services to consumers through Flexible Care Packages"

Work will also be done to ensure Medicare Locals are provided with funding for development and planning, before service delivery starts.

The roll out of these Flexible Care Packages demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ongoing mental health reform.

The Government will continue to work with the sector to deliver mental health reform and ensure the best delivery of services for people with a severe mental illness.

For more information contact Mr Butler’s office on 02 6277 7280