Outcome 11: Mental Health > Part 1 Outcome Performance Report

Major Achievements

• Improved services for people with a mental illness, their families and carers through the implementation of the Government’s mental health care reforms as part of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Action Plan on Mental Health (2006–2011).
• Over one million occasions of mental health care delivered since the implementation of the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule initiative in November 2006.
• Expanded the National Suicide Prevention Strategy to encompass a whole-of-community approach to preventing suicide and promoting mental health issues across the population. This included delivering an additional 46 community-based projects around Australia.
• Established the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace).

Challenge

• The development of and agreement across the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments to comprehensive and robust frameworks for monitoring, reporting and evaluating the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health.

Key Strategic Directions for 2006-07

Implementing the Portfolio’s Elements of the Council of Australian Governments Mental Health Package

Ensuring that people with severe and persistent mental disorders have access to a coordinated system of care, and are better supported in their recovery process was a key priority for the Department in 2006–07.

The Department worked towards this through the implementation of 13 of the 18 initiatives under the Government’s contribution to the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health. These initiatives aim to increase clinical and health services in the community and enable new team work arrangements for psychiatrists, general practitioners, psychologists and mental health nurses.
They will also provide new non-clinical and community-based services for people with mental illness, their families and carers. In addition, they will increase the mental health workforce and support new community awareness programs.

All planning and implementation processes were finalised within set timelines. The Department guided their implementation through a range of coordination and governance mechanisms that it established. These included stakeholder and working groups which ensured a coordinated whole-of-government approach to the roll-out of the package.

A notable success was the implementation of the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule Initiative. This included supporting key stakeholder groups to raise awareness of the new Medicare Benefits Schedule items and their requirements, and to assist eligible credentialed clinical psychologists and allied mental health professionals to access them. A framework for the education and training component of the initiative was also finalised, comprising a national multidisciplinary training package and information and orientation sessions for mental health professionals.

Monitoring and Reporting Progress of Mental Health Reform

Monitoring and reporting progress in the implementation of the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health is important to ensure that activities identified in the plan are improving outcomes for people with mental illness. In 2006–07, the Department contributed to the development of the Government’s Monitoring Framework for the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health. Information collected from this framework will form the basis of input to the Government’s first annual report to COAG by Health Ministers in 2007.

The framework provides a means of tracking implementation progress of each individual initiative through established data collections and routine monitoring. It is built on five concepts, the first four concern basic information about program delivery (what services, provided by whom, to whom and at what cost). These four concepts represent the ‘core’ information required for routine and regular reporting across all initiatives. The fifth concept concerns program outcomes (with what effect). These concepts identify how initiative progress will be reported. The collection of data through regular reporting will enable the tracking of progress against specific implementation milestones.

Implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy

As part of the Government’s mental health reform package, the Department expanded the National Suicide Prevention Strategy to encompass a whole-of-community approach to preventing suicide and promoting mental health across the Australian population.

The Department implemented a number of national projects in 2006–07, including the Mindframe Initiative which focuses on improving media reporting of mental health and suicide issues, and the MindMatters Initiative to promote suicide prevention in tertiary and vocational education institutions. The Kidsmatter Initiative was also implemented to deliver integrated mental health programs in schools.

The Department provides funding for 46 community-based projects under the expanded strategy including 12 projects with a specific Indigenous focus. These provided community support for people at risk of suicide and better information to improve knowledge of, and attitudes towards, help-seeking options in the community, especially for people at heightened risk. They also helped build supportive social environments, such as within workplaces. The expansion of the strategy also provided funding for further national research and development to increase the understanding of suicide and how to prevent it.

Access to Youth Mental Health Services

A key focus for the year was improving access and service delivery for young people between the ages of 12-25 years who have, or are at risk of developing, mental health problems and associated drug and alcohol issues. The Department finalised the establishment of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (headspace) which aims to establish approximately 30 Community of Youth Services nationally, including in Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. These youth services will provide holistic care to young people by bringing together primary care, mental health, drug, alcohol and vocational rehabilitation services.

In February 2007, the first grant round to develop and establish these services was allocated to communities across Australia. Large grants were allocated to ten communities, while two services were opened in south Melbourne and north Adelaide. Smaller grants were also provided to 21 communities to assist them in developing full models for submission in the second round. It is expected that another eight headspace centres will become operational later this year followed by the selection of another 20 centres in the second round, to be decided in late 2007.

The Department provides funding to headspace to implement the four main streams of activities under the funding agreement. The Department’s role is to manage the funding agreement, while the headspace National Office manages the grant assessment and selection process.