The Federal Government needs to act to ensure the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program remains a success, according to the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses.

The ACMHN has outlined a raft of recommendations in a review publication on the program, in a bid to shift the focus from acute and hospital mental health care to care at a primary health level.

The Medicare-funded program, first launched in 2007, enables mental health nurses to collaborate with GPs and psychiatrists to deliver mental health services.

More than 64,000 Australians have accessed the service, receiving assessment, physical health monitoring, counselling and recovery support.

ACMHN CEO Kim Ryan said the government announced $334 million in the recent federal budget for new similar services for people with severe mental illness rather than investing in the existing program.

“The government has to explain why it is establishing new services that will duplicate the work already being done under the MHNIP rather than invest in this existing program,” she said.

“Mental health nurses continue to report that every day they are able to avert suicide attempts and admissions in hospital, and return people to work and education as a result of the MHNIP.

“Unless the government acknowledges the work of these nurses by ensuring an urgent review of the incentive payment, we will see a great opportunity lost.”

MHNIP provides mental health nurses who are credentialed under the ACMHN’s Credential for Practice Program an opportunity to embark on a new career path into primary practice.

In the publication, ACMHN president Peter Santangelo said the program offered new hope for people experiencing mental illness or disorder while showcasing mental health nursing professional practice “at its best”.

“The ACMHN is invested in ensuring this innovative model of care continues to be delivered, developed and funded appropriately,” he said.