Mental health spend up
March 28, 2013
THE Australian Government has
upped its spend on mental health
care according to the AIHW.
The comments come as part of
the AIHW’s latest data release,
which revealed that between 2010-
11 the Govt increased its mental
health spend by $450m to $6.9b.
“This equates to about $309
spent per Australian on mental
health related services in 2010-11,
an increase from $248 per
Australian in 2006-07,” said AIHW
spokesperson Dr Pamela Kinnear.
Breaking down the figures, the
lion’s share of the spend went to
state and territory mental health
services ($4.2b), whilst $1.8b was
reserved for specialised mental
health services for admitted
patients in public hospitals.
The data also revealed that the
average spend per patient per day
was $842, whilst around 10,800
specialised mental health beds
were available in 2010-11 (around
two thirds of which were supplied
via public hospitals).
Meanwhile, the AIHW also
revealed that amongst the spend,
$852 million was paid in Medicare
benefits for mental health services,
a figure which according to the
AIHW equates to around 5% of
Medicare expenditure.
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