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National standards for mental health services 2010

This document outlines a revised set of mental health service standards which can be applied to all mental health services, including government, non-government and private sectors across Australia.

National standards for mental health services 2010 (html)
National standards for mental health services 2010 (PDF 1126 KB large file)

The same publication in smaller sections:

Cover pages (PDF 408 KB)
Foreword (PDF 138 KB)

Standard 1. Rights and responsibilities (PDF 135 KB)
Standard 2. Safety (PDF 133 KB)
Standard 3. Consumer and carer participation (PDF 95 KB)
Standard 4. Diversity responsiveness (PDF 98 KB)
Standard 5. Promotion and prevention (PDF 96 KB)
Standard 6. Consumers (PDF 134 KB)
Standard 7. Carers (PDF 134 KB)
Standard 8. Governance, leadership and management (PDF 133 KB)
Standard 9. Integration (PDF 98 KB)
Standard 10. Delivery of care (PDF 154 KB)

Glossary (PDF 169 KB)
Principles of recovery oriented mental health practice (PDF 129 KB)
Bibliography (PDF 336 KB)

To obtain a hard copy of this publication, please contact National Mailing and Marketing on (02) 6269 1080 or health@nationalmailing.com.au. The code for this publication is MH259.

The first National standards for mental health services were developed in 1996. A review of the standards was completed in 2008.

The Australian Health Ministers' Conference endorsed the revised standards in September 2010. The revised standards have a greater emphasis on recovery and will be implemented within a diverse range of mental health services - public, private and non-government organisations, and where mental health care is delivered such as drug and alcohol services, community based mental health services and primary care.

Implementation guidelines for the national standards for mental health services

There are three implementation guideline documents that accompany the standards. These guidelines provide more detail to inform the implementation of the standards, and clear directions for mental health services on how the criteria of the standards apply to different services.

The three implementation guidelines are for:

1. public mental health services and private hospitals
2. non-government community services
3. private office based mental health practices.

The guidelines were developed with significant input and recommendation from areas covering the following populations:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• culturally and linguistically diverse
• alcohol, tobacco and other drugs

Page last reviewed: 5 March 2013