Update about ‘Australia needs Better Access to psychological treatment’ on Change.org
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12:42 PM (16 minutes ago)
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Hello everyone,
A quick update on our continued efforts to support Better Access to psychological care in the Medicare system:
THANK YOU to those who wrote in for our ‘Writing the Wrongs’ project. Hundreds of letters were sent in leading to a telephone call with the Minister (http://www.betteraccess.net/index.php/information/latest-news/a-talk).
The Minister agreed to a meeting next time he is in Perth. He also agreed to show us research which he claims justifies the cuts. In return, we gave the Minister a summary of dose-response studies (http://www.betteraccess.net/docs/evidence.pdf) and randomised clinical trials (http://www.betteraccess.net/index.php/information/evidence-based-reform). In both cases, the research strongly supports our calls to allow patients to access up to 20 sessions of therapy.
A month has passed since then and the Minister has shown us any research. Minister Butler is visiting Perth next month, but he has not offered us a meeting. We have continued to request his supporting evidence and will continue to ask for a meeting.
A website called Oursay.org has organised a mental health debate which may provide another way forward. Federal representatives from the ALP, the Coalition, and Greens have agreed to answer 3 questions, and so far, the top 2 questions are about the Better Access issue. We need to know where our political parties stand on this serious policy problem in the lead-up to the election.
You can support the Better Access questions by following the links:
Question 1 (from Ben Buchanan) at http://oursay.org/s/4i6
Question 2 (from ‘Bob McBob’) at http://oursay.org/s/4ib
In the coming weeks we intend to summarise where each political party stands on the Better Access issue as we know that for many of you this is a voting issue. You can visit our website at http://betteraccess.net for updates.
Thanks again!
Dr Ben Mullings
Alliance for Better Access