In 2006, The Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) agreed to a National Action Plan on Mental Health (The Plan) that provides a framework emphasising coordination and collaboration between government, private and non-government providers.
The Plan is directed at achieving four outcomes:
- Reducing the prevalence and severity of mental illness in Australia;
- Reducing the prevalence of risk factors that contribute to the onset of mental illness and prevent longer term recovery;
- Increasing the proportion of people with an emerging or established mental illness who are able to access the right health care and other relevant community services at the right time, with a particular focus on early intervention; and
- Increasing the ability of people with a mental illness to participate in the community, employment, education and training, including through an increase in access to stable accommodation.
The Plan is comprised of two major parts. Part one describes the overarching outcomes, indicators and five areas of action with specific policy directions agreed between governments. The second part of The Plan contains Individual Implementation Plans prepared by each government.
The Commonwealth Government has committed to 18 initiatives that will be funded in the five year plan and the Queensland Government has committed to funding an additional 25 Initiatives. To download a copy of the National Action Plan on Mental Health please click here.
Of these 43 Initiatives, a number of them directly impact on divisions of general practice and primary mental health care, whereas others, whilst still related, are slightly more removed. GPQ has detailed information below regarding those initiatives that directly impact on divisions.
A summary of all the initiatives, including organisations funded to implement them are below.