National Standards

The National Standards for Mental Health Services outlines standards that can be applied to all mental health services across Australia.

Produced by the Commonwealth of Australia, the Standards can be found on the website of the Commonwealth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Branch, Department of Health and Ageing:

http://www.health.gov.au/hsdd/mentalhe/
Go to Publications and Resources. Under Consumer Outcomes, select National Standards for Mental Health Services

'National Standards for Mental Health - Foreword
It is widely recognised that service standards and quality assurance programs within health services are an essential part of achieving high standard health care. This applies equally to mental health services. Implementation of national mental health service standards represents an important opportunity to improve the quality of mental health care in Australia.

I therefore commend to you the following national standards for mental health services, endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council's National Mental Health Working Group on 3 December 1996. In providing its endorsement, the Working Group reaffirmed its commitment to national service standards and quality service provision. The Working Group's endorsement also signifies an important milestone in the achievement of the 1992 agreement by Australian Health Ministers to the development of national standards for mental health services under the National Mental Health Strategy.

The standards can be used as a blueprint for the development of new services or as a guide to service enhancement and continuous quality improvement. They can be used as a tool to inform consumers and carers about what to expect from a mental health service and as a check list for service quality. They can also assist consumers and carers to participate in a service's planning, development and evaluation processes.

On behalf of the National Mental Health Working Group, I would like to extend our appreciation to all those involved in the development of these national standards.

The Working Group has agreed that state and territory mental health services will use the standards as much as possible over the next twelve months and will be interested in any feedback about the standards based on experience with them during that time. If you wish to provide such feedback, please contact the Director of Mental Health in your state or territory or the Mental Health Branch of the Department of Health and Family Services, by telephone (06) 289 3698, or by writing to MDP 37, GPO Box 9848, CANBERRA, ACT 2601.

Dr Harvey Whiteford
Chair Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council's
National Mental Health Working Group January 1997 © Commonwealth of Australia'

National Standards for Mental Health© Commonwealth of Australia
ISBN 0 644 475576 5

This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or training purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgment of the source and no commercial usage or sale. Reproduction for other purposes than those indicated above, requires the written permission of the Australian Government Publishing Service, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601