PHARMACISTS should be supported to play a greater role in the provision of mental health services, Federal MP, Emma McBride, believes.
Discussing the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Select Committee's report, the pharmacist-turned-politician told the House of Represenatives that "community pharmacists are often the first point of contact for many people experiencing mental health problems".
"As a pharmacist, I understand the valuable role of pharmacists and other allied health workers in mental health and suicide prevention," she said.
"Their role can span through to key members of multidisciplinary teams in acute inpatient settings.
"To support pharmacists in this role, the committee recommends evaluation of pharmacy mental health training and support for more mental health training for pharmacists and pharmacy staff."
McBride noted that her experience working in the acute adult inpatient mental health unit at Wyong Hospital, had led to her decision to stand for election.
"I saw firsthand the circumstances of people's lives that led to sometimes lengthy inpatient stays in stretched and underfunded public adult mental health units, only to be discharged often to the circumstances that made them sick," she said.
"We discharged people to couches, to caravans, to caves.
"In a community where rents in the private rental market have increased by $3,600 a year, this problem has become a crisis."
She added that workforce shortages were another factor that needed to be addressed to improve Australia's mental health services.
"There are simply not enough mental health workers, and there are barriers to employing existing workers in the areas of greatest need, or to work to the top of their skills and training, the top of their scope of practice," McBride said.
"The National Mental Health Workforce Strategy must be finalised and acted on as a matter of urgency.
"Mental health is a bipartisan space, and it is above politics."
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