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Real-time suicide data could be years away

The real-time suicide data promised by the Morrison government as part of its COVID-19 mental health response plan may not be available for two years.

Unveiling the response plan last month, Health Minister Greg Hunt promised to fill gaps in the data, which he said was "exceptionally important" to address the nation's mental health needs.

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine past president Simon Judkins says the pandemic is worsening mental health problems. Supplied

But in its written response to questions on notice at a Senate inquiry into the government's COVID-19 response on Monday, the Health Department said the $2.6 million in data funding included in the plan would go towards a project slated for completion in mid-2022.

The national suicide and self-harm monitoring system, which is being established at a cost of $15 million, was announced as part of the 2019-20 federal budget with a three-year timeframe.

The department also revealed only Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania had agreed to supply their suicide data and only on the condition it would not be made public.

Despite an overall decline in hospital presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Victorian Health Department data shows emergency room visits by mental health patients, as a proportion of emergency room visits, rose by a third in April compared with a year earlier.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced another phase in mental health support, pledging $20 million towards men and suicide.

The NSW Health Department refused to share its hospital data, but emergency room physician Simon Judkins, past president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), said his colleagues were reporting similar trends in all states and territories.

"It's the same pattern everywhere," Dr Judkins told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "For each jurisdiction, there are significant concerns about the mental health needs. Not only have we not seen a drop in presentations, but the concern is we're going to see a significant rise in the number of mental health presentations due to the stress that COVID has introduced."

In April, there were 6947 mental health presentations to Victorian emergency departments – 6.8 per cent of total emergency department presentations. By comparison, in April 2019, there were 7765 mental health presentations to emergency, which was 5.1 per cent of the total.

Crisis and support services have also experienced increased demand, with calls to Lifeline up 23 per cent in the four weeks to May 10 compared with the same period a year earlier. Kids Helpline had a 51 per cent increase in calls, emails and web chat, while Beyond Blue's contacts across all platforms were up 57 per cent.

Beyond Blue’s coronavirus wellbeing support service received 4938 calls in the five weeks to May 20, with isolation, anxiety, worry and depression the most common reasons for calling.

Dr Judkins said Australians with mental illness were struggling with loneliness and the disruption to routines caused by lockdowns, while many had found it difficult not being able to visit their psychologist or GP face to face.

"There is significant concern among mental health clinicians that this is the next wave that we're going to have to flatten," he said. "We're just going to see the numbers going up and up and up."

A Health Department spokesman said the first phase of the national suicide monitoring website would go live on July 31, 2020 "with existing data.

"Data will continue to be released over the course of the project," the spokesman said.

"Some aspects of the data will be available publicly, however a secure site will be established for authorised users, such as policy makers and health officials."

ACEM president John Bonning said patients with mental health conditions were facing "unacceptably long and dangerous waits" for ongoing psychiatric care.

"Action is needed to improve resourcing, capacity and integration of mental health services," he said.

Professor Ian Hickie from Sydney University's Brain and Mind Centre, whose modelling has forecast a 25 per cent increase in suicides owing to COVID-19, is concerned governments are not taking the issue seriously enough.

"What we know doesn't work is more community awareness and more entry points to a system without sustained care," he said. "Is the government taking the modelling as seriously as it took the modelling for the virus?"

But deputy chief medical officer Ruth Vine, a psychiatrist appointed to the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee this month, said the forecast jump in suicides was "unwarranted" and there was no evidence of an increase.

The Morrison government this month announced $48 million for the COVID-19 mental health response plan, on top of $20 million for mental health research under the Medical Research Future Fund and $74 million for preventative mental health services since the start of the pandemic.

A spokesman for Mr Hunt said the government had also agreed to increase hospital funding through a new deal with the states.

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636; Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14; Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

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Dana Daniel was a federal health reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Canberra.

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