Page 827 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 20 April 2021
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with general practice with a focus on maternal, child and family health. This program is being delivered in partnership with the National Health Co-op. The pilot centre, or hub, will be operational in July 2021 and will support the Molonglo region’s growing population. The purpose of this exercise is to pilot co-locating publicly funded appointment-based child and maternal health services—in this particular instance, antenatal health and lactation support, for example—with a general practice that can also provide short notice urgent care.
It is important to note that we stressed throughout the election campaign that the five new walk-in health centres that we were talking about are not the same as the walk-in centres that Canberrans have become used to. It is not just about immediate care, minor injuries and illness; it is about providing continuity of care for people with chronic and complex conditions, providing wraparound services and integrating care with the important services that are provided by general practitioners, allied healthcare workers and our acute hospital system so that coordinated care can be provided closer to home. The Coombs walk-in health centre will be a pilot. People in Molonglo will continue to have access to excellent care at the Weston Creek walk-in centre as well when they need those minor injuries and illnesses treated.
The budget also provides $2 million over two years to undertake a feasibility study into the establishment of the other four new walk-in health centres across Canberra’s suburbs, offering a combination of walk-in and appointment-based services. The locations of those four walk-in health centres, as members would be aware, will be south Tuggeranong, west Belconnen, the inner south and north Gungahlin. The feasibility work will also consider how the new centres, the existing walk-in centres and our community health centres can come together in a network to deliver the range of services that Canberrans need in the right place at the right time. It is really about rethinking that model of care in the community.
Finally, in relation to our election commitments I note the $900,000 over two years to provide funding to Palliative Care ACT to operate a proof of concept respite hub for people with life-limiting illness who wish to spend the end of their life at home and need support for them and their carers. Leo’s Place is a fantastic initiative. It is trialling an absolutely new model of care. That is why the funding is for two years to work with Palliative Care ACT as it pilots this program and to see what it delivers for families and their loved ones who are at the end of their life.
In the couple of minutes I have left I will touch on some health policy initiatives that are outside my direct responsibility but absolutely reflect Labor’s election commitment to focus on youth mental health. This is the expansion and continuation of AMOS. This was a key element of ACT Labor’s youth mental health election commitment. It is a community-based mental health outreach service that provides assessment and treatment seven days a week for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. We are putting more than $3 million into continuing that successful service.
We have also committed almost $2.4 million over four years to expand mental health services and supports that directly reflect ACT Labor’s youth mental health election commitments, including an alcohol and drug nurse to bolster our support for young people in contact with the youth justice system. We are allocating funding to begin the
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