[Greens-Media] Liberal campaign donor seeks power to detain mental health patients

[John Kaye]

Liberal campaign donor seeks power to detain mental health patients

Media release: 31 May 2013

The O’Farrell government is toying with a plan to allow private mental
health facilities to mental health patients against their will, according
to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

('Compulsory mental healthcare could go private', Sydney Morning Herald, 31
May, page 7, http://j.mp/smh130531)

The proposal is being pushed by multi-national private health care giant
Ramsay, which has donated more than $47,000 to Health Minister Jillian
Skinner, Premier Barry O'Farrell and the Liberal Party of NSW between 2008
and 2011.

The proposal has been canvassed in a report which was tabled in parliament
yesterday.

Dr Kaye said: "Decisions about involuntary detention of mental health
patients are already difficult enough without adding the further complexity
of the profit motive and the influence of past campaign donations.

"The NSW Coalition is carrying $47,000 in campaign donations from
Australia's largest private hospital operator. Any move to giving Ramsey
the power they have been seeking to involuntarily detain mental health
patients will be seen as a return for a favour.

"It is very hard to conceive of a regulatory framework that would prevent
private facilities detaining mental health patients longer than necessary
to bolster their profits.

"It is even harder to understand how the O'Farrell government could
independently arrive at a solution when it is carrying more than $47,000 in
campaign donations from a giant private health care provider that is
pushing to get into this lucrative market.

"Regulation works best where it does not have to overcome profit drivers.
That is what makes allowing private mental health facilities to detain
patients so very challenging.

"There is an inherent and irreducible risk that the autonomy of mental
health patients will be unnecessarily compromised by private providers
seeking to maximise their profits.

"Unlike public mental health facilities, the management incentive in the
private sector is to keep patients as long as possible to maximise profits,
particularly after they get better and cost less to care for.

"This is very dangerous territory. Private mental health facilities would
be under direct pressure from their shareholders to maximise profits by
detaining patients for as long as possible, especially after they have
recovered and cost less to look after," Dr Kaye said.

For more information:  John Kaye 0407 195 455


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John Kaye
Greens NSW MP
phone: 0407 195 455
web: www.john.nsw.greens.org.au
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