Delay in fixing mental health system fails patients and families |
Delay in fixing mental health system fails patients and families
March 18, 2026 — 5:00am
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“It is almost certain that there will be a big bill at the end of this process … but I don’t see that so much as a cost to budget as a profound investment in a fairer, more decent Victoria.”
Those were the words of then-premier Daniel Andrews in February 2019, as he announced a royal commission into the state’s “broken” mental health system.
When that commission returned its findings in March 2021, there were tears in parliament. There was also a commitment from Andrews to implement all 74 recommendations and introduce new services and a mental health levy to help pay for them.
Last week it emerged a 31-year-old man at Barwon Health’s Swanston Centre in Geelong may have lost his life for want of a full-length, lockable door between a bedroom and a bathroom that separated him and another patient. Staff there say it is the fifth adverse outcome suffered by a patient in the unit since........