Mental Health Workers Alliance Update: November 2004

The Mental Health Workers Alliance has been established by the NSW Nurses’ Association, the Police Association of NSW, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (NSW), the Health Services Union NSW, and the Australian Services Union (NSW) in response to ongoing concerns among our members about the entrenched resource deficits in mental health services across NSW.

This situation is compromising the ability of police, ambulance officers, nurses, doctors, allied health staff, security officers, and social and community services workers to get their jobs done and ensure some of the most vulnerable people in our society receive the best care.

This neglect of mental health services has persisted too long and the MHWA has been established to ensure that the public is aware of the depth of the problems in mental health services and to demand that the NSW Government act decisively to rectify this unacceptable situation.

Since launching the Alliance on Thursday 4 November at NSW Parliament, it has successfully been used as a vehicle to highlight issues that impact on workers in and around the mental health sector, and the vulnerable members of society that many of these workers care for.

So far the Alliance has:

• established a charter document of common goals that all members of the mental health workers alliance have set out to have implemented. To read the MHWA's Five Step Program for a Saner Mental Health System, please click: http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/mhwa/news/charter.html

• secured quarterly meetings with NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Health Cherie Burton. The first of these meetings was held in the lead-up to the Alliance's launch. The Alliance expressed concern that front line workers were not being formally consulted on issues directly affecting their industry. Ms Burton committed to informing members of the Alliance about when she would be paying visits to mental health facilities to ensure workers can be broadly informed. To send an email to Cherie asking her to support this campaign please click: http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/mhwa/protest/protest_form.html

• conducted a survey of more than 600 frontline workers in and around the mental health sector and those directly impacted by its failure. These results revealed that frontline workers overwhelmingly support a campaign of this nature and feel the sector requires urgent attention. To read a report of survey responses please click: http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/mhwa/background/survey.html

• achieved good media coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald, the state editions of The Daily Telegraph, some interstate papers and websites, some suburban and rural press, Prime Television, and radio. The Sydney Morning Herald article can be accessed at: http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Police-left-to-prop-up-ailing-mental-health-system/2004/11/04/1099547322330.html

• established a Mental Health Workers Alliance website that spells out the Five Steps to a Saner Mental Health System and enables interested people to download information materials, send a message to Cherie Burton, and sign up to email updates. Visit this website frequently to stay abreast of events at: http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/mhwa/mhwa.html

• printed an information brochure about the MHWA that spells out its purpose and its charter and tells workers how they can become involved. It also includes a message that can be faxed back to Cherie Burton expressing support for the campaign and requesting that she implement the Five Step Program for a Saner Mental Health System. To access a PDF version of this brochure, please click: http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/mhwa/news/pamphlet.html

The above has all been achieved in a relatively short period of time but the real work still lays ahead. To become involved in the Alliance or to find out more please visit the website regularly.

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