Reforming mental health care in Victoria: a decade later

From 1994, the Australian State of Victoria began a major transformation of its public mental health service system. In June 2006, St Vincent's Mental Health hosted a conference to reflect on the changes and identify steps to be taken over the next decade.

Participants came from Victoria's 21 adult mental health services, consumer and carer groups, and psychiatric disability rehabilitation and support organizations. They met in small groups, and discussed pre-set topics. Their observations were pooled in plenary sessions.

Participants agreed the changes had had many positive outcomes. People most affected by mental illness had priority for treatment. Services were better structured to meet their needs, and staff were more familiar with community-based care. Negatives included restricted service access for some groups, insufficient resourcing to meet increased service demand and clinical staff not maintaining specialist skills.

The conference enabled experiences to be shared and ideas exchanged about improvements.