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How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

JasminejSenior Contributor06 Sept 2017, 2:56 am AEST

How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

My brother has schizophrenia. I am his secondary carer after my mum. My whole life since my teenage years has been trying to get him help. For some odd reason my mother seems unable to pick up on his symptoms. My father has untreated/undiagnosed mental issues which he will never get treated and makes things very hard to do rationally.when I was younger doctors wouldn't listen to me cos I was too young. Now I'm 34 and it seems to be that bro keeps changing doctors, they don't talk to me or mum and he relapses and doesn't go to psychologist appointments. He's never violent just paranoid and wanders around speaking to self until somehow he is convinced to start meds again. I wonder, how is the mental health system actually supposed to work to support my bro. My parents are aging and I feel I cannot handle much more of this and looking after old people. I'm alone with no support as I have been my whole life. How can we set up a mental health care plan for him... I've heard the term mentioned.. What does it entail? And can I speak to a doctor without them disclosing it? Any advise is appreciated.

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In response to: How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

JasminejSenior Contributor11 Sept 2017, 10:03 pm AEST

Re: How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

@patientpatient it's nice to hear from someone in a similar situation. The duty officer at the health centre told us that if he misses an appointment, they will call and message for a few days and then turn up at the house. Usually my mum gives her number as contact but I changed it to bros number this time around. I'm hoping that getting someone at the door will force him to answer phone calls in order to avoid the house call. It remains to be seen if the nurses actually do that and if bro will also respond.
I do hope you find some accommodation for your son. I haven't looked into that but I suppose it's another journey. What kind of options are out there? I also hope you have some respite in your caring duties.. Being a 24hr carer is tiring.
Also good that you've had support during crisis times. The duty officer told us we can apply for the court to allow the police (I think) to get bro to hospital when he's very ill under 'loss of reputation'. It's nice to know.
Are you able to swap back into the public system?

In response to: Re: How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

patientpatientSenior Contributor11 Sept 2017, 11:07 pm AEST

Re: How is the system supposed to work for a patient with mental illness?

@Jasminej. Good to hear that you've found a suitable service, and one that follows up on missed appointments. It's taken a while but we now have a very good private psychologist and a good private psychiatrist. Psychologist appointments are bulk billed under a mental health care plan which provides up to 10 appointments per year, and we have paid for extra appointments when necessary. (Initially you get 6 bulk-billed appointments but GP can refer for 4 more). The private psychiatrist also bulk bills which is a bonus. My son has relapsed a few times and I've managed to look after him at home, with help from the private psychs. If hospitalisation was needed, he'd have to go to a public hospital.

Accommodation is fine for now, but I would like to work out what the long term options are. Will post details if I find anything.

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