CHA PUSHES FOR MENTAL HEALTH PACKAGE TO HELP FRONTLINE WORKERS

Australia’s Catholic public and not-for-profit private hospitals are urging the Morrison Government to urgently deliver a dedicated mental health package for health care workers on the frontline of COVID, akin to the package offered to emergency Services workers affected by the 2019 bushfires.

The package proposed to the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, David Coleman would involve direct funding for specialist mental health support to nurses on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is currently no specialist, peer-based support available to all health care workers (a program run by the AMA is available to doctors).

The Australian Journal of General Practice recently found healthcare workers are at greater risk of mental illness – particularly sleep disturbances, post-trauma stress syndromes, depression and anxiety – due to high work-related stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily due to the high risk of infection and excessive workloads.

“Our health care workers are under incredible strain, especially in Sydney, and 70 per cent of them are now experiencing depression, anxiety, or insomnia,” Rebecca Burdick Davies, Director, Strategy & Mission for Catholic Health Australia

“The Government needs to do a better job of supporting the people who keep the rest of us safe.

“A dedicated, peer-led mental health package – accessible to all health care workers on the frontline of COVID – would make a massive difference. Recently, we saw an industry-based, peer-led program for Queensland construction workers result in a 10 per cent reduction in the suicide rate.

“The Australian Government rightly recognised the toll on firefighters after the 2019 bushfires and dedicated $11.5 million to mental health services to support them and their families.

“We know the Australian Government is aware of the mental health impacts our health workers are suffering but helping our nurses and health workers should go beyond a tip sheet or a list of hotline numbers on a government website.

“If David Coleman steps up and delivers the right mental health package in this moment he will literally be saving lives.”

Evidence shows that peer-based support, where people in the same industry are trained to support their peers, reduces mental health stressors and suicide risk. It’s one of the few types of mental health support that has demonstrable outcomes.

Psychiatrist Dr Michael Millard, who heads St Vincent’s This Way Up online mental health service, said the need for better intervention was acute.

“Last year’s lockdown produced a 1000 per cent increase in course registrations to the This Way Up program,” Dr Millard said.

“COVID pressures are mounting on health care workers from a huge range of angles. It’s bad enough watching this pandemic unfold when you’re relatively passive at home. For health care workers they know they’re expected to front up on that frontline every day, regardless of how things change.

“We know that access to the right psychological well-being services changes lives — sometimes even saves lives.

“The very least we should be doing for our frontline workers is giving them access to these vital services.”