Members of the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) working in Mental Health Services across Tasmania have been surveyed to find out the effect the budget cuts will have on their services.
HACSU State Secretary, Chris Brown said “These workers are at the front of service delivery and are the ones who have to continually turn Tasmanians away and put them onto a waiting list.”
94% said that the cuts will have a damaging effect on service delivery to clients. 83% of workers surveyed felt that they have not been consulted regarding the implementation of the cuts. 69% said they were concerned about cost cutting proposals detracting from staff and client safety.
“These mental health services across the state are stretched to the limit and it appears that instead of trying to save money in other ways, they are instead going to cut allied health professionals and nurses and other positions from the outset.”
“If these cuts go ahead it will mean services which are already stretched will now be in crisis and unfortunately will almost certainly lead to loss of Tasmanian people’s lives simply because they will not be able to access the services they need.”
“For example, the North West Mental Health Service has been critically understaffed and has recently finally created positions to attempt to deal with the unmet need for mental health services. Now they are cutting these positions and more.”
“This year the Federal Government provided a boost of $1.5B in funding across Australia for Mental Health Services. This is clearly a case of ‘giving with one hand and taking with the other.” he said.
“This Government has a moral obligation to Tasmanians suffering from mental illness and for the Government to cut these services for some of the most vulnerable Tasmanians is beyond belief.”
Earlier today on Tasmanian Times: Health chief cash outrage
“For the Minister for Health to claim they are putting patient care at the centre of all they do at the same time as cutting services is simply dishonest. It is clearly money, not patients that is driving decision making.”
HACSU will be meeting with members next week to decide on the strategy for moving forward.
