MATT BURNELL, MEMBER FOR SPENCE: Well, it's great to be here in the heart of the Playford Health Precinct here in Elizabeth in the seat of Spence. Today is a monumental day for delivery of better mental health services in and around my electorate and the Northern Suburbs. We're standing in the brand-new Northern Adelaide Medicare Mental Health Centre that is going to deliver so much better health delivery outcomes for people experiencing mental ill health here in the Northern Suburbs. This is a fantastic partnership between the Albanese Labor Government, Peter Malinauskas Labor State Government, and also our partner in Sonder. This is a relationship that's been built over many, many years in a community like mine here in the north that has really needed services like these right here for so long. So, it's a really proud day for us to have this new facility delivering so much hope for people right here in the north.
I’ll hand over to Minister Emma McBride to say a few more.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Thank you so much, Matt. It's just so exciting to be here today, and I want to thank you for your advocacy, and to be with Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister for Health and Wellbeing, to be opening two brand-new services in the northern parts of Adelaide. The Medicare Mental Health Centre right here, free walk-in support for anyone, and the Kids Hub for children and families aged nought to 12.
We know in Australia today that one in seven children or adolescence experience mental health challenges in any 12 months. Fifty per cent of mental health conditions develop before the age of 14, which is why that early intervention is so important through the Kids Hub. And for adults, it's one in five of us who experience mental health challenges in any year, half of us in our lifetime, which is why our government is making this financial year alone an $8 billion investment in mental health and well-being to support the needs of all Australians, to bring mental health care close to home for free, backed by Medicare in the heart of communities. If someone was to walk into this Medicare Mental Health Centre, they would be greeted by a peer worker, someone who's walked in their shoes. They'll be able to have tailored support to meet their individual needs through a professional mental health team. And if their needs do require more support, in this co-location, the first of its kind in Australia with the South Australian Government's investment in the Crisis Stabilisation Unit, they can have that here at the same place – in a place that is welcoming, that is patient- that is person-centred, and to meet their needs. We know there is more to do, which is why we're opening this service today; the Kids Hub just down the road.
And I might now hand over to Minister Blair Boyer to speak more about our relationship and partnership with the South Australian Government. But before I do, I want to congratulate Minister Boyer on the announcement yesterday of the South Australian inquiry into the mental health and well-being or the health and well-being of men and boys. This is something that is a priority for our government as well. And just today, the Special Envoy, Australia's first, for Men's Health, Dan Repacholi, has announced another $3 million investment from our government in the Flinders Centre to understand better the drivers of distress for men and boys, to translate that research into evidence-based practice, and to make sure that men and boys across the country get the support they need and deserve.
I'll hand over now to Minister Boyer.
BLAIR BOYER, SA MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING: Emma, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Emma. It's great to be here with Emma and with Matt and with Sageran and with Ellie and all the team here who have put together this amazing facility. And I've been really lucky to be out here. I think this might be the third occasion since becoming Minister in March most recently to have a look and open up the first beds on the next storey above for the Crisis Stabilisation Centre here, which will have 16 beds. And of course, it's great to have Emma as the Assistant Minister in these areas in Adelaide again to announce the opening of another mental health- Medicare Mental Health Centre here on the ground floor, which of course people can walk in, get support if they’re having an episode of poor mental health, and then potentially be referred just upstairs to the Crisis Stabilisation Centre, which has been run by Sageran’s team from Sonder.
And a heap of work which Emma mentioned in her comments has gone around the design not just of the physical infrastructure but the support that people will get in this facility. And it's great to have Ellie and LELAN here today to talk about the work that's been done with people with lived experience and peer workers, as Emma said. So there'll be people here to greet them and support them who have stood in their shoes and experienced poor mental health themselves.
This is part of a huge investment that we are making with the Albanese Labor Government. I thank Matt as the Federal Member here for his advocacy. On the weekend, I was at the Playford Health Hub, which incidentally currently hosts the Kids Hub that Emma referred to for nought to 12, where we announced an additional 21 renal dialysis beds, which will give us capacity up to 30 beds, which will enormously boost our capacity to have people from the local area and those traveling from farther afield to come and have their renal dialysis right here. Of course, we've announced the Crisis Stabilisation Centre above. And now, to have a Medicare Mental Health Centre and a Kids Hub here in the Northern Suburbs, I think, is enormously beneficial.
And obviously, we are under big pressure in terms of the state's health system in terms of presentations for poor mental health, and I can give a bit more context to that. In the last 12 months in NALHN, the Northern Area Local Health Network of which the Lyell Mc in this precinct is a part, we have seen a 12 per cent increase in presentations to the emergency department and other sites for mental health, which is a pretty staggering figure.
So I'm really pleased that we've got the support of the Albanese Labor Government here. I'm also really pleased that we've got Sageran and the team from Sonder which have an excellent reputation as the ones who'll be doing the work on the first floor here in the Crisis Stabilisation Centre. But obviously, further investment not just in the overall capacity of our health system in South Australia, but specifically in mental health is urgently needed. And this is, I think, both levels of government, state and federal, putting money where their mouths are but also making the effort to get the design work right. So what we build, which I think we can all agree here couldn't be more different from the kind of facilities 10, 20, 30 years ago in which we cared for people with poor mental health, but have actually also done the work before it's built and before it's opened, to listen to people who have actually experienced poor mental health themselves about the things we do well and the things we don't do well to make sure that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.
So again, a big thank you to Emma who’s made it a real priority to come to South Australia, and I think that’s fantastic. A thank you to Matt, who’s always advocating for more services in his patch, and I’ll pass over I think first to Sageran from Sonder to talk about the role that they’re playing.
SAGERAN NAIDOO, CEO, SONDER: Thank you very much. The advantage of this centre is not just the fact that it is the coming together of the Commonwealth Government, the state government and the Adelaide PHN, but it is an opportunity for Sonder to be able to build partnerships as well to be able to support people in the north. For the Kids Hub, we partnered with Kudos, KWI and Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia. We've taken the lead in the process that has led to this incredible building. The Medicare Mental Health Centre cannot exist without the joined up funding that comes from state and federal, administered by the Adelaide PHA. We're very proud of the fact that Sonder's been able to take that partnership work and build a significant partnership to deliver the service, and our friends at LELAN have been a key part of that process.
The Medicare Mental Health Centre is across two sites. It is really a significant investment by the government in the fact that at Elizabeth in Gillingham Road, we will have a Medicare Mental Health Centre, and here in Salisbury we have a second site. That's really significant. It allows access, it allows people to get the right care at the right time.
The Medicare Mental Health Kids Hub is an incredible achievement. It is an opportunity for families, where they suspect that the child that they're caring for may have some sort of concern They have the opportunity to walk in without appointment, without referral, without diagnosis, to get a service from a multidisciplinary team to help them to navigate the challenges of a child where they may see a concern with the child's wellbeing. As the Minister said, nought to 12-year-old, incredible service, an absolute gap in the north, and we're really proud of the fact that the Kids Hub in the north will build on the ones that are in the south and in the deep south. And we're really proud of the fact that Sonder have been able to partner with KWI, Kudos and Multicultural Communities Council to deliver on the promise of the federal government, state government and Adelaide PHN commissioning process. Thank you very much.
ELLIE HODGES, CEO, LELAN: Hi everyone, I'm Ellie. I'm CEO of LELAN, the Lived Experience Leadership and Advocacy Network. For LELAN, this has been four years of work with partners including Adelaide PHN, state government, and that's it, I think, [indistinct]. It's been a lot of work ensuring that people with lived experience are included in the design and decision making and the model of care that this underpins. Whilst we've heard statistics about the impact of mental ill health, words that we don't use, it's just about when life gets hard, and times are tough and we need extra support. We want- from our community, we hear we want home-like, community-based connection, compassion, our humanity recognised, and that supported without demonising us, breaching our rights, or putting us in places we don't want to be and you don't want us. We shouldn't have to go to hospital or to GP to get help. This gives us a more open door and easier access to peer workers who have been there themselves and walk beside us with that, with other professionals as part of the team.
We hear all of the time it could be any one of us that will need a place like this. It's important that it's here. It's important that it stays. It's the most contemporary model we have in this state. We need more of them. People want home-like, community-based, and fully peer-led as well as an option in the future. And that's what we'll continue to advocate for so that compassion, connection and humanity and the rights of people are adhered to, promoted, and that people can get on with living. When things are hard enough as they are, we don't need services to make it harder or pathways to not be present and visible so they know where to go.
Fortunately, LELAN's been involved in Kids Hub as well, in developing the philosophy of care that underpins that to ensure that nought to 12s, their families, their carers, guardians, and the children and young people themselves and their needs, and how that looks different to adult services, because it does. Ensuring that they are tailored and targeted for what people at that time who were included in the decision making and design are heard as well. And when that is done well at every point, four years in the lead up and then afterwards as well, that's when we'll get the best care for the best people in the right place that they choose, and that's what this is about.
JOURNALIST: I just wanted to ask quickly, given the healthcare shortages in South Australia, opening these new facilities, are you confident that, I guess, you will have the staff to …
BOYER: Staff them?
JOURNALIST: Operate them? Yeah.
BOYER: Yes, but a lot of work has gone in from organisations that we're partnering with like Sonder to make sure that we've got those staff, and partnering with organisations, again, like Sonder and others, who I think have a really, really strong reputation in the area of mental health care. So yes, my answer is we do, but it's always going to be a challenge now and into the future because we're trying to continually grow the health system here in South Australia. And in our first four years, we added 700 beds. We've got more than 300 beds still to come online, so this is the biggest increase that we've made to capacity in the South Australian health system ever. And that obviously comes with a challenge in terms of the cost, but it comes with an additional challenge, which is actually having the workforce. And we’re going to need that into the future, particularly in rural and regional areas. So we're focused on both.
But you heard, I think, from Emma and Sageran, but particularly Ellie, around all the work that has gone in behind the scenes before this has opened. I think it's an immense amount of work to get the model right, to listen to people, to understand what the mix of staff should be, like the multidisciplinary team we see here and above and at the Kids Hub is in my mind, I'm not an expert, but so far removed from how people with poor mental health were looked after in years gone by. It's around having that big support network around them, some clinicians, some not, some peer workers. So I think what we do better now than what we used to do is before we build a grand structure like this and open up beds, we get all the work on the model of care so that the actual care that is given here when the doors open today is as good as you'll find anywhere in the world, I think. So that gives me confidence, but the workforce is going to be a challenge forever.
JOURNALIST: Awesome, thank you.
BOYER: Did you want to add anything to that, Emma?
MCBRIDE: As Minister Boyer said, we have invested very strongly in mental health workforce in particular. I'm a former mental health worker myself. I worked in acute inpatient services for nearly 10 years. There was always a pressure on recruitment and retention. We've invested millions of dollars in the mental health workforce pipeline. And as Minister Boyer said, this is a multi-disciplinary team where we have peer workers with their own lived experience. We have psychiatrists, psychologists, across the sites occupational therapists. So there'll be more than 25 staff across the two sites, so a really strong multidisciplinary team, so that support can be tailored to an individual needs that is person-centred and compassionate and gives people the best chance to thrive.
JOURNALIST: And what do you think makes this centre stand out from, you know, I guess, centres that were opened a decade ago?
MCBRIDE: This centre is the first of its kind in Australia and is world leading. To have a centre that is designed, co-designed with people with their own experience in both co-design, decision-making and delivery makes such a big difference. And we've seen the Chief Psychiatrist Sophie Davison has visited- this is now the 58th open across the country and Sophie's visited 30 of them, and the new design’s created a new front door. And we're seeing people walk into these centres who previously have not accessed care. Men. older Australians, tradespeople. They are creating a new open door to mental health support and care, and reducing all of the traditional barriers. You don't have to see a GP to get a mental health care plan. You don't need to wait for a referral. You don't need to pay for care. So reducing all of those barriers is creating much better access, and we're seeing that already.
JOURNALIST: Excellent.