25 Nov Importance of Sleep to Good Health: Updates from recent Government Enquiries
The Productivity Commission’s draft report on Mental Health
The commission is now calling for submissions seeking further information and feedback regarding it, preparatory to its finalisation.
An obvious deficiency in the report is the paucity of references to sleep which is in defiance of the considerable and growing literature that highlights the close bidirectional relationship between disturbed sleep and mental health problems, including depression and psychotic disorders. The word “sleep” is not mentioned in the report overview, is briefly mentioned in volume 1, mainly in relationship to the “sleeping rough” of homelessness and not mentioned in any meaningful way in volume 2 at all. This is clearly a quite shocking shortcoming of the report that needs to be addressed. The Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) are keen to mobilise the community of sleep professionals to make submissions to the inquiry to ensure that the final report is far more insightful regarding the fundamental links between sleep health and mental health. Please note that the written submissions are due by Thursday 23 January 2020. Please also note that the inquiry is currently holding public hearings around the country and are inviting individuals and organisations to register to attend and make a brief verbal submission there.
Details for public hearings can be found here: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/mental-health/public-hearings.
Details about the report and making submissions is to be found here: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/mental-health#draft.
Parliamentary Inquiry into Sleep Awareness
In response to several years of advocacy by the ASA and the Sleep Health Foundation (SHF), a Parliamentary Inquiry into Sleep Awareness was called by Hon Greg Hunt, Federal Health Minister (November 2018). The Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport received >300 written submissions (September-October 2018) and held hearings in most states (January-February 2019). The Chair of the Committee, Trent Zimmerman, tabled the report in Federal Parliament (April 2019).
The report, titled “Bedtime Reading” contained 11 recommendations, the first of which was that “…the Australian Government prioritise sleep health as a national priority and recognise its importance to health and wellbeing alongside fitness and nutrition. We now need to encourage the Federal Government to provide the necessary funding and other support needed to implement the recommendations. The first step in this process occurred in early September, when representatives from the ASA and SHF travelled to Canberra and met with parliamentarians including senior representatives of the Department of Health.
MBS Review – Thoracic and Sleep items
The changes our field has experienced with the MBS Review, modifications to Sleep Item Numbers and Private Health Insurance reforms have been both substantial and confronting. However their potentially negative effects have been greatly lessened by the development of a strong and respectful working relationship between members of the ASA’s Board and Clinical Committee with policy makers within the Department of Health and key staff within the Health Minister’s office.
We have posted our findings of the effectiveness of these tools to identify patients with OSA in previous newsletters, with the conclusions consistent with other findings in literature.
You can find this article here with references to other Australian publications: http://thoracicandsleep.com.au/medical-newsletter/local-review-of-sleep-questionnaires/