To the Editor: Singh and Castle recently commented on the assumptions made in relation to the National Mental Health Policy.1 One such assumption was that the cost of the community care service model could be constrained by limiting services to the “severely” mentally ill. The authors went on to describe the realities associated with making this and other assumptions on current mental health care delivery.
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- Southern Mental Health, Adelaide, SA.
Correspondence: james.hundertmark@fmc.sa.gov.au
- 1. Singh BS, Castle DJ. Why are community psychiatry services in Australia doing it so hard? Med J Aust 2007; 187: 410-412. <MJA full text>
- 2. Wigney T, Parker G. Medical student observations on a career in psychiatry. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2007; 41: 726-731.
- 3. Andrews G, Henderson S, Hall W. Prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service utilisation. Overview of the Australian National Mental Health Survey. Br J Psychiatry 2001; 178: 145-153.
- 4. Lau T, Kumar S, Robinson E. New Zealand’s psychiatrist workforce: profile, recruitment and retention. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2004; 38: 547–553.
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