Pharmacotherapy services
David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:25): (617) My question is for the Minister for Mental Health. Pharmacotherapy is an important tool to help people manage opiate addiction. It is also a useful tool to undermine organised crime by diverting people away from the illicit market, as I noted recently in an opinion piece in the Herald Sun. Last week, with a great sense of urgency, I advocated for the government to do whatever was necessary to prevent the imminent closure of a health clinic in Frankston which provides opioid replacement therapy for many people in the south-east. It seems that the closure of this clinic is now just a few weeks away and Dr Taylor will finally be allowed to retire. I wish him well in his retirement. The government has now had ample time to plan for an alternative for the clients, so my question for the minister is: will the Frankston Hospital be able to service all of the clients of Dr Taylor, and if not, what is the plan to ensure they have continuity of care?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:26): I thank Mr Limbrick for his question. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Mr Limbrick, that pharmacotherapy is a key part of our toolkit when it comes to addressing drug harm across the community. I have been keeping abreast of what has been happening down in Frankston because of course when we initially heard that the GP clinic was going to be closing down, it was a signal to both the department and me as minister that we would need to have contingencies in place because of the large number of people that rely on pharmacotherapy treatment down there in the Frankston area.
My understanding and the latest advice that I have got on this is that the service is continuing to operate. There have been a number of occasions where they have stated publicly that they are going to be closing permanently, so it has been a little fluid in terms of that information. Whilst GP-led pharmacotherapy treatment is primarily a matter for the Commonwealth, we have stepped in because we understand the importance of making sure that there is that continuity of care for these patients. We have invested. The Allan Labor government has provided additional funding and we have been working with Peninsula Health and the local primary health network to establish a public pharmacotherapy clinic in Frankston. That new service commenced in March, and it is already supporting some of the current patients from the Frankston private clinic who have consented to move over to the public pharmacotherapy service. We have also ensured that there is additional capacity in that new public unit if and when the Frankston Healthcare Medical Centre does indeed close and the doctor retires.
So I am happy to advise that as of 12 August the new pharmacotherapy clinic is up and running. It has got a permanent new home across the road from Peninsula Health’s Frankston campus. I am really pleased that people have worked together down in that Frankston area to get a very good outcome for people who really rely on this ongoing service.
David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:29): I thank the minister for her detailed response. On 7 June last year Minister Williams noted $10 million of funding to plug gaps and expand pharmacotherapy services. With significant unmet need being estimated by people within the sector and several doctors, like Dr Taylor, due to retire, this attention was seen as the bare minimum to ensure the system did not collapse. The system failing is a concern, as for people who are stable on treatment, suddenly needing to find alternatives can be disastrous to their health and possibly to community safety. Earlier this year the government announced $8.4 million of funding to boost pharmacotherapy in up to 30 locations through a grants program targeting areas of high demand or looming service gaps. Minister, is the $8.4 million in funding announced this year new funding or is it simply the remainder of the $10 million that was announced last year?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:30): I thank Mr Limbrick for that supplementary question. The additional funding was as a result of the announcements that the Premier and I made a few months back as part of our statewide AOD action plan. That was in recognition of the fact that we know that we need to strengthen the pharmacotherapy system here in Victoria. There will be two pieces of work that will occur. The first is, as you have mentioned, the grants that will be out for community health services to provide additional pharmacotherapy services in Victoria. Secondly, there will be a department-led review with the sector on other areas of the pharmacotherapy system that we need to address. I would also just point out that we have got the AOD strategy that will be out for public consultation, including with the sector. I am sure many of our sector partners will have strong views about the pharmacotherapy system and its importance in the AOD system here in Victoria.