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Joint Regional Mental Health Plan

Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments are committed to supporting joint regional planning for integrated mental health and suicide prevention services as the first action from the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan (the Fifth Plan).

Governments require Health Service Providers (HSPs) and Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to jointly develop and publicly release joint regional mental health and suicide prevention plans by mid-2020. These joint plans will provide a regional platform for addressing many problems which people with lived experience of mental illness or suicide and their carers and families currently face. This includes fragmentation of services and pathways,

Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments are committed to supporting joint regional planning for integrated mental health and suicide prevention services as the first action from the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan (the Fifth Plan).

Governments require Health Service Providers (HSPs) and Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to jointly develop and publicly release joint regional mental health and suicide prevention plans by mid-2020. These joint plans will provide a regional platform for addressing many problems which people with lived experience of mental illness or suicide and their carers and families currently face. This includes fragmentation of services and pathways, gaps, duplication and inefficiencies in service provision, and a lack of person-centred care.

The key objectives of joint regional mental health and suicide prevention planning are as follows:

• Objective 1: Joint regional plans should embed integration of mental health and suicide prevention services and pathways for people with or at risk of mental illness or suicide through a whole of system approach.

• Objective 2: Joint regional plans should drive and inform evidence-based service development to address identified gaps and deliver on regional priorities.

  • Feedback on Joint Regional Planning Workshop – 6 December 2019

    2 months ago
    Joint regional workshop 6 december 2019

    WAPHA’s Health Policy (Mental Health) team held a Joint Regional Planning (JRP) Workshop at the Mental Health Commission (MHC) on 6 December 2019. Representatives from the MHC and all Health Service Providers attended along with a wide range of peak bodies, including WAAMH, WANADA, AHCWA and WALGA. Running the workshop as planned was challenged by the absence of some WAPHA staff due to an organisation-wide illness. However, thanks to the expertise and contributions of participants and facilitators some useful feedback on priority areas for further collaboration and inclusion in the Foundational Joint Regional Plan was obtained.

    Key themes evident on the day include:

    • Joint gatherings of mental health stakeholders from across the system is relatively uncommon and there were benefits in having a diverse range of stakeholders in the room together;
    • Each participant group would benefit from clear mapping and understanding of everyone’s roles and responsibilities;
    • Participants wanted assurance that the recommendations from relevant State/Federal reports and plans were being considered and utilised to inform development of the Joint Regional Plan; and
    • Stakeholder groups would welcome further engagement in understanding and realising the benefits of the joint regional planning process and related outputs.

    Priority Areas

    Based on a review of the raw data from group discussions and from observations made by participants on the day, several key themes have been synthesised into draft priority areas. These draft priority areas are considered most likely to be the subject of pragmatic and achievable joint regional planning in the future:

    1. Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB)

    2. Care Coordination

    • Suicide prevention
    • Physical health
    • Psychosocial support

    3. System Navigation

    • Regional service mapping
    • Central entry point (eg, Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) portal)

    4. Cooperative Commissioning

    • Planning (National Mental Health Services Planning Framework (NMHSPF))
    • Evaluation
    • Co-design (HSPs, Peaks, Consumers/Carers)

    Next Steps

    A first draft of the Foundational Joint Regional Plan is expected to be completed by the end of February 2020 with options being considered for a second stakeholder workshop in March 2020. Completion of a second draft of the Foundational Plan is expected in April 2020 with the final version due by 30 June 2020. Stage 2 of the joint regional planning process which involves the drafting comprehensive service development plans, will commence from July 2020 for completion by June 2022.

    Evaluation

    Your completion of the following evaluation questions would be greatly appreciated.

    WAPHA’s Health Policy (Mental Health) team held a Joint Regional Planning (JRP) Workshop at the Mental Health Commission (MHC) on 6 December 2019. Representatives from the MHC and all Health Service Providers attended along with a wide range of peak bodies, including WAAMH, WANADA, AHCWA and WALGA. Running the workshop as planned was challenged by the absence of some WAPHA staff due to an organisation-wide illness. However, thanks to the expertise and contributions of participants and facilitators some useful feedback on priority areas for further collaboration and inclusion in the Foundational Joint Regional Plan was obtained.

    Key themes evident on the day include:

    • Joint gatherings of mental health stakeholders from across the system is relatively uncommon and there were benefits in having a diverse range of stakeholders in the room together;
    • Each participant group would benefit from clear mapping and understanding of everyone’s roles and responsibilities;
    • Participants wanted assurance that the recommendations from relevant State/Federal reports and plans were being considered and utilised to inform development of the Joint Regional Plan; and
    • Stakeholder groups would welcome further engagement in understanding and realising the benefits of the joint regional planning process and related outputs.

    Priority Areas

    Based on a review of the raw data from group discussions and from observations made by participants on the day, several key themes have been synthesised into draft priority areas. These draft priority areas are considered most likely to be the subject of pragmatic and achievable joint regional planning in the future:

    1. Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB)

    2. Care Coordination

    • Suicide prevention
    • Physical health
    • Psychosocial support

    3. System Navigation

    • Regional service mapping
    • Central entry point (eg, Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) portal)

    4. Cooperative Commissioning

    • Planning (National Mental Health Services Planning Framework (NMHSPF))
    • Evaluation
    • Co-design (HSPs, Peaks, Consumers/Carers)

    Next Steps

    A first draft of the Foundational Joint Regional Plan is expected to be completed by the end of February 2020 with options being considered for a second stakeholder workshop in March 2020. Completion of a second draft of the Foundational Plan is expected in April 2020 with the final version due by 30 June 2020. Stage 2 of the joint regional planning process which involves the drafting comprehensive service development plans, will commence from July 2020 for completion by June 2022.

    Evaluation

    Your completion of the following evaluation questions would be greatly appreciated.