Alberta's official Opposition was glad to see some of its recommendations adopted in the government's recently announced mental health review.
“We're pleased to see first of all the NDP adopted some Wildrose recommendations,” said Jason Nixon, MLA for the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre riding, referring primarily to utilizing primary care centres, enhancing mental health curricula in schools and combating the fentanyl crisis.
“So we were excited to see that,” he said.
However, the government's mental health review fell short in one major area, he added.
“We are concerned that the review neglected the seniors living with dementia in their families. And with our aging population, this is a dangerous omission, in our opinion,” he said.
Dementia is an important issue because as the population continues to age, the province will see more and more people trying to support a family member suffering from dementia, he said.
Having grown up around Sundre, Nixon said dementia is certainly an issue in the constituency.
“This is one of the highest calls for help that we get from families within our communities,” he said, adding dementia is mainly a seniors' issue, but that it also affects the family members of someone enduring dementia,” he said.
“So we really think that should have been in there (the report).”
Now that the official Opposition has seen the Alberta government's mental health review, it will continue to keep pushing for improvements in that area, he said, referring to dementia.
Although the Wildrose submitted some recommendations in its own report called Healthier Albertans, Healthier Communities, the party was not part of the panel that drafted the mental health review itself, he said.
“So obviously I don't know exactly why they would choose not to put that (dementia) in there, but it's something that we're curious about — we'll certainly be asking questions,” he said.
The Valuing Mental Health report is available on the Alberta Health website, www.health.alberta.ca, by clicking on the “initiatives” tab near the top of the page and then selecting “Mental Health Review” under “Current Initiatives.”
The report, which was released last week, includes 32 recommendations aimed at supporting mental health by strengthening service delivery for Albertans with mental illness and addictions, said a press release. The government accepted the report and plans to immediately start addressing six recommendations listed as priorities.
Among them are to add medical detoxification beds for adults, including six to eight new beds in Lethbridge and converting 20 beds in Red Deer; expanding access to addiction treatment by opening three new social detoxification beds for children and youth in Calgary; working in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to develop an opiate addictions action plan; increasing technology-based solutions by launching a child and youth mental health website this spring; developing a performance monitoring and evaluation framework to track results on report recommendations and benefits to Albertans; and establishing an Addiction and Mental Health Implementation team to work with community and health partners to coordinate implementation of the report.
“The current mental health system is not meeting the needs of an increasing number of Albertans. We can and must do better. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Albertans have heard this,” said Dr. David Swann, co-chair of the Mental Health Review Committee and leader of Alberta's Liberal Party.
“Successful implementation of the mental health review will require a higher level of leadership from Alberta Health, and the new AHS board, than that provided by previous governments. Today's six priority recommendations are an excellent start,” he said last week through a press release.
“At some point, mental health and addiction problems will touch the life of virtually every Albertan. This report charts a path forward towards practice that is more patient- and family-focused as well as offering an integrated array of supports for people in need.”
The report was welcomed by Friends of Medicare as a positive step in the right direction, but like the Wildrose the group also felt the report does not reach far enough to address the serious issues surrounding mental health.
“We also believe the report falls short on looking at cost barriers to mental health services, with no recommendations to add coverage for prescription medication or psychological services to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. We hope to see this addressed by the Addiction and Mental Health Implementation team,” said spokesperson Trevor Zimmerman.
The mental health review was done in three phases — project planning from July to August 2015, followed by public and stakeholder engagement from August to October 2015, and finally the development of recommendations and the final report from October to December 2015, the government said.
The review's focus included increasing access to addiction and mental health services such as school-based programs for children and youth, community-based services and preventive services, as well as improving continuity of care across an integrated service delivery model, in-patient support services, addiction, geographic challenges and ensuring services are inclusive of, and culturally appropriate for, Alberta's diverse population, it said.
