Access to State-Managed Adult Mental Health Services

Report 4: 2019-20

Browse report Media statement Download PDF

Auditor General's overview

This report contains the findings from my Office’s performance audit of access to Western Australian State-managed adult mental health services.

About half of all people will have mental health problems at some time, and about 3% will have issues that require significant care and support. Each person’s experience of mental health is unique and can change over time, and their mental health issues will affect those who care for and support them. Providing care that best matches each person’s needs and circumstances is complex and difficult.

 

 

Read more

Video summary

Duration 1:50

Report content

Man with his head in his hands
Executive summary
This audit assessed whether people can access adult State-managed mental health services efficiently and effectively. Read more...
Chalk board with the word recommendation
Recommendations
The MHC and the Department should clarify their roles so that it is clear who is primarily responsible for the effective and efficient management...
Person signing a document
Response from entities
The Mental Health Commission appreciates the work of the Office of the Auditor General for completing this review of Access to State-Managed...
Audit focus and scope
This audit assessed whether people can access adult State-managed mental health services efficiently and effectively. We focused on the following questions...
Audit finding - There has been limited progress implementing the Plan since it was released in 2015
Since 2015, little progress has been made against the Plan. The Plan was widely accepted, endorsed, and released by the then Minister...
Audit finding - The current mix of mental health services has not changed significantly and does not work as intended for some people
The Plan identified gaps in the mental health service mix that for some people meant their available care pathway necessitated more intensive...
Audit finding - MHC and WA Health do not use the existing data effectively to manage service delivery and reform
The MHC and WA Health do not use the existing data effectively to inform how they deliver services, or to target changes in the mix of services. Read more...
Appendix 1: How many people used State-managed mental health services
One of the important outcomes of our analysis was to identify how many people had engaged with the State’s mental health services over time. Read more...
Appendix 2: Picturing people’s journeys through the mental health system
Another key part of our analytical approach was to test if it was possible to plot the individual interactions of all people who had accessed the services in our data set. Read more...