This week 3DN published findings from a historical investigation into the delivery of mental healthcare to people with intellectual disability in New South Wales (NSW). The study explored the delivery of mental health services from the 1960s to 2013 to people with intellectual disability from the perspective of intellectual disability mental health experts. Their experiences highlight that people with intellectual have historically faced, and continue to face, a range of systemic issues when accessing mental health services that meet their needs.
Salutary lessons from this study include the need for enhanced policy and governance, mental health service models design for pope with intellectual disability, improve diagnosis and treatment of mental ill health in people with intellectual disability, workforce capacity in the area of intellectual disability mental health, and enhanced research capacity.
These lessons provide a potential framework for action to respond to the findings of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability that people with cognitive disability have been and continue to be subject to systemic neglect in the Australian health system.
Full article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/19315864.2020.1856243