Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Eating disorders

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:48): (548) My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Suicide rates of neurodiverse patients with eating disorders is on the rise in Victoria. Are you confident the family-based therapies model adopted within Victoria’s health system is the best model to treat these patients, particularly those on the autism spectrum?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:49): Thank you for your question, Ms Bath. It is an important area, particularly given that we know that there has been a significant rise in presentations of those living with eating disorders right across our health system. I am very proud that our budget did make a significant investment in the area of addressing eating disorders to the tune of $31 million in this year’s budget.

What we have tried to do, Ms Bath, is work closely with Eating Disorders Victoria and others within the health system who specialise in this kind of treatment to look at different models of care so that we are trying to avoid people getting into that cycle of being hospitalised regularly. So we have provided funding for a number of alternative in-the-home treatments as part of this budget allocation. There is $6.9 million for an eating disorders day program across regional Victoria, which I am sure you would be pleased to hear about. That would include, as I said, outpatient services so that people are not needing to be treated as inpatients. We have also provided $6.4 million to deliver 10 dedicated early intervention professionals in the communities that need them the most – and it will be our area mental health and wellbeing services that those positions are embedded in – and $6.5 million to fund two in-home intensive early engagement and treatment programs. One will be delivered through Alfred Health, and the second will be via an infant, child and youth mental health and wellbeing service. Also, there is $5.8 million to support the invaluable work in advocacy and research of Eating Disorders Victoria, who do a lot of really great work supporting families and –

Melina Bath: On a point of order, President, I particularly asked the minister to respond to the family-based therapies model and that some of these families are feeling that this is very restrictive in its practices. The minister has been relevant to the topic but not relevant to this issue: family-based therapies in the Victorian health system.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister was relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: I do believe that all of the budget investments that I was just outlining go directly to making sure that families have that care where they need it. It has been important to have an eye to making sure that the services are available in regional Victoria as well as metropolitan Victoria. This work obviously builds on investments from previous budgets, but it is absolutely the case that we know that we have to really do much more to come up with treatments that are going to best support the health needs of people struggling with eating disorders.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:52): Minister, I thank you for your response. Given the increasing number of parents expressing concern over this particular treatment model – the family-based therapy model – in our hospital systems for their children and that suicide rates of neurodiverse patients with eating disorders are on the rise in Victoria, what actions are you going to undertake to address this alarming rise? What is the ‘much more’ that you should be doing right now?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:53): Thank you, Ms Bath. I appreciate that this is a very complex area, but in answering your substantive question I was genuinely trying to give you a good overview of the types of treatment services that we have funded in this year’s budget. They are all about trying to ensure that it is not in a hospital setting that most of the treatments occur. We know that early intervention is absolutely critical in getting people back into good health, and of course we know that those with eating disorders have statistically been over-represented, sadly, in our suicide figures. That is why these programs are designed in a way to ensure that early intervention is at the heart of them.