The Commissioning Team would like to thank all consumers, carers, sector partners, and service providers for your input so far into the Design Phase of the Mental Health Commissioning process.
On 17 July 2024 the Mental Health Commissioning Team held a webinar about the Design phase Insights report, and information on the next steps in the commissioning process. You can watch the Design Phase Insights Report webinar recording.
Please note: In the Design Phase Insights Report webinar, it was originally advertised that public consultation on the Strategic Investment Plan would be conducted in August. However, due to caretaker conventions in the lead up to the 2024 ACT Government Election this will be postponed. The next stage of the commissioning process is the drafting and publishing of the Mental Health Strategic Investment Plan. ACT Health has begun consultation across government, with Capital Health Network, and with the Commissioning Advisory Group to form the early draft of this document.
ACT Health will release the draft Strategic Investment Plan for public review after the conclusion of the ACT Government Election caretaker period, as described in the below figure. Caretaker period begins on 13 September 2024 and ends with the election of the Chief Minister on the first sitting day of the Legislative Assembly following the election.
We expect that the final version of the Strategic Investment Plan will be released in January 2025.
Now Available: Mental Health Commissioning Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We've published answers to key Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Mental Health Commissioning process. This FAQ document will be updated regularly as we receive questions on the commissioning process.
Please note: The FAQs will not be updated during the ACT government election caretaker period. Caretaker period begins on 13 September 2024 and ends with the election of the Chief Minister on the first sitting day of the Legislative Assembly following the election.
The commissioning for Mental Health Services project is now in the Design phase, which will address how commissioned services can address concerns and priorities raised in earlier phases. This will be done in collaboration with the sector through a number of targeted consultation activities.
Through the Design phase we have gathered meaningful feedback from the community about what the ACT Government funded NGO mental health subsector should look like. To ensure this information can be acted on appropriately, and adequate time is given for follow-up with the sector and community, we have decided to extend the timeframe for our commissioning process.
The Minister for Mental Health has said: “Commissioning has the opportunity to make real differences to people’s mental health and wellbeing and their experience of accessing mental health services in the ACT. However, to properly take advantage of this opportunity I believe that we must take the appropriate amount of time to go back to the community with what we have heard and developed so far. This will enable us to further develop an outcomes framework for mental health NGO services and undertake more detailed consultation and co-design with the community.”
“To achieve this detailed work, I have asked ACT health to extend all mental health subsector commissioning contracts for up to 18 months where necessary. This also means we will avoid contract decision-making or changes to services during caretaker period in 2024. The mental health subsector is complex, with many moving parts, and it is vital that we take the appropriate amount of time to engage with the community and ensure we are purchasing the right NGO funded mental health sector for the ACT. It’s also important that we undertake commissioning processes in a way that supports the sector to continue to work in collaboratively across both government and non-government sectors.”
To facilitate this extended timeframe, all current service contracts for mental health NGO services associated with the mental health commissioning process will receive variations for extensions of 12 months, with a further 6 months to be provided as necessary as we progress this highly complex work. In the coming weeks, the Mental Health Commissioning Team will directly contact all affected service providers and work to begin the negotiation of the initial 12-month extension of funding into their current contracts
The ACT Government is committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the ACT community and working towards the Territory wide vision for mental health, “A kind connected, and informed community working together to promote and protect the mental health and wellbeing of all”.
This vision informs all our work including the commissioning of mental health and suicide prevention services now and into the future. The mental health subsector delivers a range of programs and services across the spectrum of need in the ACT community including mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention for those with mental health concerns, suicide prevention, and specific interventions, support and recovery for people experiencing mental illness. These services are complemented by programs involved in systemic and individual advocacy, capacity building and research.
These phases concluded in February 2022 and provided an opportunity for Mental Health Policy and Strategy to engage with carers, consumers, service providers, Peak NGOs, and partners within the ACT Government to highlight what the community sees as priorities, needs, and challenges in the mental health system.
This included looking at what is currently working well in the community mental health sector, what is not working as well, and any service gaps. The workshops and consultations within this phase of commissioning was guided by the Discovery Paper.
Through the Strategise phase the Mental Health Commissioning team ran two workshops to support discussion around the Discovery paper, and ten questions included within the Answers to the Discovery Questions. These workshops provided a number of valuable insights and themes that have been captured in a Listening Report and a Companion Document, which provides the raw answers to every question.
The Design phase is where essential collaboration between commissioner, sector partners, service providers and other stakeholders takes place. The Design phase enables us to examine, shape, and align key service models and characteristics with desired health and wellbeing outcomes for the community.
The Mental Health Commissioning team have developed an Insights report which synthesises the feedback that was heard throughout all consultation activities from May – July 2023. This Insights Report also includes an appendix that includes a summary of all the feedback received during the Design Phase to date across each individual consultation activity.
Progress
Activity
Date
Output
Introductory Webinar to the Design phase of Mental health Commissioning
Developing an Outcomes Framework for commissioning
Seeking the views of Carers and consumers on health commissioning
Exploring Mental Health prevention and promotion programs in the ACT
Mental Health Subsector Blueprint – Open Consultation closed on Friday 7 July 2023.
Feedback papers and discussion guides
Consultation on feedback papers and accompanying discussion guides closed on Friday 7 July 2023.
These Feedback papers are focused on priority groups and contain a high-level overview of what we have heard before. These papers suggest ways that the sector could support these groups through the commissioning process and contain questions to help determine the way the service system should look for these individuals.
Each feedback paper has an accompanying discussion guide. These guides provide a resource to community to support conversations with consumers, staff or anyone interested to participate in discussions and provide feedback.
We note that priority groups contain a diverse range of individuals with distinct needs. We also recognise intersectionality between these groups. When responding, you are welcome to direct your comments to the broader group of each paper or to smaller groups within.
LGBTIQA+ community
Older People
Carers
