Re-balancing Victorian psychiatric services: Will increasing the supply of community services impact upon hospital demand?

The Australian debate on the provision of inpatient care has progressed in recent years. Previously, policy makers considered Australia to have too many psychiatric beds, leading to a 2014 recommendation by the National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) that AUD$1 billion should be redirected from public hospitals to primary and community mental health services (Allison and Bastiampillai, 2015). This included major reallocations of $250 million in 2020-2021 and a further $300 million in 2021-2022, potentially reducing acute beds by 15%. However, the Australian Federal Government declined the NMHC's 2014 recommendation to cut future funding for psychiatric beds. This is especially fortunate, as two subsequent major Australian Commissions have indicated that demand for acute hospital mental healthcare far exceeds supply.