New Project to Deliver Better Mental Health Services
On Thursday 29th July, the NSW Consumer Advisory Group - Mental Health Inc. in partnership with the Centre for Mental Health, Department of Health, launched a new project which aims to identify a way to ensure consumers' perceptions and experiences of services are taken into account in service planning and improvement.
The Mental Health Consumers' Perceptions and Experiences of Services project (MH-CoPES) is an 18-month project being conducted by a team of consumers, researchers and professionals. One of the key features of the project will be to find ways for services to use this information to improve how they respond to consumers' needs.
Professor Raphael, Director of the Centre for Mental Health, NSW Health said: "The MH-CoPES Project will be a consultative process over the next 12-months, and is an important embodiment of partnerships in mental health. The outcome of this project will build on the important concept of health professionals learning from consumers."
At the end of the 18-months, the project team will make recommendations to the Department of Health about the best ways for mental health services across NSW to collect, collate, measure and report consumers' perspectives. The instrument and process must be appropriate, effective and efficient. The project has two key objectives, to:
- identify principles underpinning successful and effective reporting of reliable data on consumers' perceptions and experiences of services; and
- produce a full tool kit which can be used to ascertain consumers' perceptions and experiences of services with specific attention to the following aspects of service delivery: availability of services; access to services; getting information; treatment and assistance; staff; participation; and hospital care.