This is so despite the efforts of the Australian Health Ministers' Working Party to bring about an increase in the number of people with a serious mental illness receiving treatment. For those who fall through loopholes in the guidelines that determine eligibility for existing services, such as those with a dual disability, rising expenditure levels are cold comfort. Indicators of change are important, especially those that provide structural support to state and commonwealth commitments. In all of these areas there is evidence of good intentions but little action. One state, Western Australia, is yet to publish a state policy on mental health.
Consumers have some right to be cynical.
Significant structural changes are in place to oversee a reallocation of resources from institutional to community based care, but there is little evidence of actual change. What is needed urgently is a commitment by state governments to ensure a flow of funds to community care for the mentally ill. State action must go beyond closing institutional beds and issuing flimsy policy statements purporting to be government initiatives. Australia's track record of closing beds without transferring resources to the community is well documented. Closing beds without implementing alternative inpatient services denies those who need the most care.