Constituency Question - Eating Disorder Services

CONSTITUENCY QUESTION

‘EATING DISORDER SERVICES’.

Thursday, 23 June 2022.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (14:45):

My Constituency Question is for the Minister for Mental Health, and I ask: can the Minister advise me as to what the Labor Government is doing to improve early intervention in specialist care services for young sufferers of an eating disorder?

The Australian Patient Association’s Australian Healthcare Index, released this work, confirms that the mental health shadow pandemic sting, in the words of the experts, is in the tail.

The index shows that one in four people say their mental health has declined in the last six months and that almost 60 per cent of people have been waiting for over three months for support.

With issues like eating disorders, sufferers cannot wait. We know that the best path to early intervention includes ensuring that general practitioners recognise the condition and connect patients to services. Consideration should also be given to more at-home specialist support to assist families.

We also need to do better in providing specialist care. Children in the southern region have access to services at the Wellness and Recovery Centre Butterfly program through Monash Health, but there are a very small number of places.

We need to do more. We must do more.