Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) — (12 650) My constituency question is to the Minister for Education. How will secondary students in the Yuroke electorate benefit from the Doctors in Secondary Schools program? The Yuroke Youth Advisory Council, which I established in 2015 and consists of young people from across the Yuroke electorate, chooses a topic to focus on each year. This year they have chosen the issue of mental health, and at their most recent meeting discussed the availability of mental health services for young people in our community. With both of the government secondary schools in the Yuroke electorate having been selected to participate in this initiative, I know that members of the advisory council and other young people living in the Yuroke electorate will be pleased to hear about the Doctors in Secondary Schools program and how it will benefit them.

Response:

Healthy children and young people learn better. Research shows that healthy behaviours during childhood and adolescence can have a significant effect on both academic performance and educational attainment.

Yet we know that adolescents have some of the lowest GP attendance rates of all population groups, meaning many are missing out on the vital healthcare they need due to barriers in accessing services. Barriers include cost of consultation visits, not knowing where to go, lack of parental or carer support to attend and concerns around confidentiality.

The Doctors in Secondary Schools program will address these barriers to access by bringing regular and reliable primary health care closer to students, reducing the pressure on working parents and assisting young people to identify and address any health problems early.

In the Yuroke electorate, I am very pleased that both Craigieburn Secondary School and Mount Ridley P-12 School have been selected to participate in this exciting program.

Craigieburn Secondary School is one of the first 20 schools to commence and I am thrilled to advise that a local GP has been appointed to provide health services to students up to one day a week in the newly established on-site clinical facilities. School staff recently attended the first two-day training session for the program, preparing them for the delivery of services, which will commence shortly.

We’re rolling out delivery of 100 schools in three stages across the state, and I am pleased to advise that implementation of the program will start at Mount Ridley P-12 school from Term 1, 2018.

Participating GPs will provide the same level of healthcare support for young people that they can access at any GP clinic in Victoria, with the only difference being the GP’s physical location. This will mean they can seek confidential advice on a range of physical, mental and sexual and reproductive health issues.

The period of life from 12 to 24 years is the peak time for establishing health risk behaviours and manifesting mental health disorders, so it is critical that we maximise opportunities for access to health care for this age group before it impacts on their studies.

The Hon James Merlino MP
Deputy Premier
Minister for Education
Minister for Emergency Services