Establishment of the NSW Mental Health Commission
The New South Wales Government is strongly committed to establishing a Mental Health Commission for NSW.
The key purpose of a Mental Health Commission is to ensure that there is quarantined and accountable funding for mental health expenditure and that resources are focused on where they are most needed through the most appropriate models of care. Other priorities for the Mental Health Commission include:
- to better manage the experience of people with mental illness, their families and carers,
- divert people with mental illness away from the prison system, and
- help ensure a smooth operation of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.
The NSW Mental Health Commission has been based on best practice models from around the world, such as the New Zealand Mental Health Commission.
The role of the Taskforce
On 9 May 2011, Cabinet approved the establishment of the Taskforce to Establish the NSW Mental Health Commission. Establishment of the Taskforce was a key task within the Government’s 100 Day Action Plan.
The Taskforce was created to advise on the functions and powers of a Mental Health Commission and to provide advice regarding the enabling legalisation required to create the Commission. Chaired by the Minister for Mental Health, the Hon. Kevin Humphries MP, the Taskforce comprised12 members representing a wide range of expertise and experience. The main duties of the Taskforce were to examine existing models of such Commissions, and consult broadly and analyse the feedback from community consultations.
The Taskforce held six meetings over June, July, August and October. These meetings were held with a view to providing advice to the Government on how it might establish the new Commission by July 2012 and what its functions could be. To support this, five smaller Working Groups were established to focus on particular areas of critical development for the Commission and to engage with a broader pool of expertise. The Working Groups were: Consumer and Carer, Accountability, Governance, Quality of Services, Legal.
The Taskforce submitted its Final Report to Government in late September regarding a number of key questions:
- What should be the high level functions of the commission and what should be the legislative framework to support this and ensure both accountability and a role for consumers and carers?
- What should be the Commission’s specific functions in relation to court diversion, the Mental Health Tribunal and consumer experience?
Consultations with community and stakeholders
The process of establishing a NSW Mental Health Commission created an important opportunity for consumers, carers and service providers to have their say on how the provision of mental health services in NSW could be improved.
Through a number of means, the Taskforce sought broader input to its deliberations and consulted widely across New South Wales with the mental health workforce and stakeholders, as well as the broader community.
The consultation process included:
In July, 6 consultation forums were held with participants from the mental health sector, including the health system, associated government agencies and non government organisations. Involving around 350 participants, the forums were held in July at Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Nowra, Sydney, Penrith and Coffs Harbour. Please refer to the consultation forum report at the bottom of this page.
On 17 June a survey was also made available online to assist people to provide their input and for those who were not able to attend consultations. The survey was available online until 23 August 2011, during which time 694 people completed it.
In addition, the Taskforce invited Members of Parliament to host local consultations to provide the opportunity for the mental health sector in areas that the Taskforce could not visit and the broader community to have input.
Arranged by the Consumer Advisory Group – Mental Health and ARAFMI, approximately 1000 mental health consumers and carers were involved in consultations through face to face and on-line meetings. A separate and targeted online survey was also made available. The Consumer Advisory Group provided a submission of its findings to the Government which included 28 recommendations on the establishment of the Mental Health Commission. The submission is available on the Consumer Advisory Group website under Publications.
The Taskforce also held direct consultations with Mental Health Commissions in Canada, California, New Zealand, and Western Australia.
Results of the consultations
Through the consultation process, an image of how stakeholders and the community believe the Mental Health Commission might look and operate began to emerge. Stakeholders largely agreed on certain fundamental attributes for the Mental Health Commission, including:
- Independence from government
- Responsibility for strategic leadership
- Designated and ongoing consumer, carer and family engagement and representation
- Responsiveness to regional communities
- A recovery focus and evidenced based
- Power to ensure mental health budgets are quarantined.
Please refer to the Community and Stakeholder Guide located at the bottom of this page for more information on how the consultations helped to shape the Mental Health Commission Bill.
Mental Health Commission Act 2012
The Mental Health Commission Bill was introduced to NSW Parliament on Thursday 24 November and was assented to on 21 March 2012.
The new Mental Health Commission Act 2012 establishes the Mental Health Commission as an independent statutory body presided over by a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners, one of whom must have or have had a mental illness. The Commission will be advised by a Community Advisory Council.
As set out in the Act, the Commission will operate according to a set of guiding principles and will be provided with essential functions as broadly outlined:
- Prepare a draft strategic plan for the mental health system
- Monitor and report on the implementation of the approved strategic plan
- Review, evaluate, report and advise on mental health services
- Promote and facilitate sharing of knowledge and ideas
- Undertake and commission research
- Advocate for and promote the general health and wellbeing of people with a mental illness Educate the community about mental health issues.
In exercising its functions the Commission will be able to prepare reports on systemic issues and the implementation of the strategic plan, which may then be made accessible to the public.
Importantly, the Act is clear that government agencies are to work cooperatively with the Commission in the undertaking of its functions.
The Minister’s speech when introducing the Bill is available here.
You can see information on the NSW Parliament website about the progress of the Bill through the Upper and Lower Houses here.
Next steps
The Government is now focusing its attention on appointments and other implementation issues to ensure that the Mental Health Commission is operational from 1 July 2012. Advice on appointments will be made available at this webpage as updates come to hand.
Resources
- Minister’s October Newsletter
- Minister’s December Newsletter
- Community and Stakeholder Guide
- Consultation Report
Other links
- Mental Health Commission of Western Australia
- New Zealand Mental Health Commission
- Canada Mental Health Commission