Funding to expand acute mental health beds at the Warrnambool Base Hospital is much needed and long overdue, Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell says.
Ms Britnell said ensuring the mental health system was well supported and resourced was critical.
“We now from the royal commission that the system is broken and too many people fall through the gaps,” she said.
“This $10.9 million in funding to increase acute inpatient beds by 25 per cent at Warrnambool will be critical to addressing those shortfalls and helping more people get the support they need.”
Ms Britnell said the attention must also be turned to resourcing the sector, ensuring that there were enough people trained to deliver mental health services – particularly in rural and regional areas.
“Having beds is fantastic, but we need to make sure we have the resources to staff those beds too,” she said.
“We must focus on training of clinicians and ensuring they are placed in rural and regional areas.
“We know there is a shortage of this type of workforce already so we must be working to ensure that when these beds and new services come online, there are people there ready to work to support people.”
