'No credible plan' for mental health overhaul promised after teenagers death

Efforts to transform mental health supports for Western Australian children and teenagers risk never being delivered without major change, the state's auditor-general has warned in a report scathing of the state government.

An "overhaul" of the system was promised by the state government in 2022 in response to the suicide of 13-year-old Kate Savage.

The state's chief psychiatrist had found she was let down by an under-funded and under-resourced mental health system before taking her own life, just moments after leaving a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service appointment in Perth's southern suburbs in 2020.

Dr Nathan Gibson said what was needed went "well-beyond a band-aid or temporary solution" saying there was a significant escalation of serious mental health issues for children.

Then-health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson had committed to implementing all 32 recommendations from a landmark review into how the public health system cares for the mental health of infants, children and adolescents.

That included closing gaps between services, establishing clear processes when young people with mental health concerns present to emergency departments, and improving the ability for schools to address mental health and wellbeing.

But more than four years on, the state's auditor-general has found only one recommendation has been completed by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) — establishing clear roles and career pathways for Aboriginal mental health workers.

'No credible plan'

In her report, Caroline Spencer said the commission wasn't providing the level of leadership needed to pull off a reform of that size.

While the organisation has the authority and funding tools to influence progress, it isn't using them effectively to maintain focus, momentum or accountability, she said.

"On its current trajectory, MHC has no credible plan or pathway to deliver the Infant, Child and Adolescent mental health transformation program," she wrote.

She said if the issues were not addressed, the reforms to mental health service delivery "will never be delivered as intended."

Changes 'complex'

The opposition's health spokesperson Libby Mettam said the auditor general's report was scathing.

"[It] paints an appalling picture of this government's failure to introduce what should have been a priority of this government," Ms Mettam said.

"This report is a slap in the face to the family of Kate Savage."

Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the government was "disappointed" in the findings of the auditor-general's report.

She accepted implementation of the recommendations had been "slow".

"We're disappointed in the findings in this report, of course we are, these are important reforms that our government started and we want to see them implemented," she said.

Ms Hammat promised to act on the auditor-general's findings and "redouble efforts".

The minister said, as the report outlined, there had been some new services put in place since the initial recommendations, with an extra $235 million invested in infant, child and adolescent health since 2022.

The Mental Health Commission accepted both of Ms Spencer's recommendations — to re-establish a governance structure which had been disbanded in early 2023, and to introduce a monitoring and evaluation plan to measure progress.

Mother loses faith

Kate Savage's mother, Meron Savage, said it was heartbreaking only one of the recommendations had been implemented.

"It seems as though nothing has moved on in six years," Ms Savage said.

She said she was not confident in the minister's promise to "redouble efforts".

"I think after six years I've really lost faith that anything is going to happen from any of the recommendations," she said.

"Each time there's a commitment to implement them but I can't see that anything happens. As soon as it's out of the news, it's gone."