Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Frankston health services

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:03): (480) My adjournment matter today is for the attention of the Minister for Mental Health. In my time as an elected member of this Parliament I have had several opportunities to meet with stakeholders in the alcohol and drug sector. One thing that has been consistently raised with me for over four years now is the problems and the fragility of Victoria’s pharmacotherapy scheme. For people with serious opioid addiction issues it is often stabilisation on methadone, suboxone or buprenorphine that allows them to recover and improve their health and quality of life. These pharmacotherapy drugs, often in combination with other support, can represent the beginning of a journey where people overcome the challenges that led to their substance use issues and shift their lives in a positive direction. In meetings with former CEO of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association Sam Biondo and the CEO of Harm Reduction Victoria Sione Crawford they both highlighted that we should probably have 5000 more people on pharmacotherapy here in Victoria. They have also highlighted that the majority of people on pharmacotherapy gain access through a handful of doctors well past their retirement age who prescribe to hundreds of people.

This brings me to the current public health crisis developing in Frankston. For several months the director of the Frankston Healthcare medical centre, which manages nearly 2000 pharmacotherapy patients, has been in discussion with the Department of Health to try and ensure continuity of care for their patients while their chief prescribing doctor took planned leave. There was apparently a breakdown in the negotiations, which led to the clinic closing its doors just over a week ago. It took just one day for a robbery to occur at the co-located pharmacy. They did not steal cash or anything else, they stole pharmacotherapy medication, the drugs that they normally were prescribed.

With the serious risk of people relapsing, returning to heroin use and possibly crime to fund it, an urgent solution is needed. The government have stated that they have set up a telehealth service – as though some of the homeless patients can access telehealth – and apparently part of the solution proposed is to set up a pop-up clinic for local patients and to refer other patients to alternative services. This fundamentally misunderstands the issues both with the pharmacotherapy system and with Frankston. There are not other services available; that is why they were accessing the Frankston service in the first place. Another part of the proposed government solution is to refer people to Harm Reduction Victoria’s pharmacotherapy support line. The staff there do a good job assisting people to get access to services and resolving issues, but there is absolutely no way they can adequately deal with such a large influx of people needing support. My request of the minister is to meet with Nadia Siciliano, director of the Frankston Healthcare clinic, and find a way to urgently resolve this crisis.