Other Work

The PMHA Quality Improvement Project is directed toward improving outcomes for consumers within the context of the mental health services that are provided by private hospitals and psychiatrists in private practice. The intention is for the$250,000 of funding available to be used to help achieve that goal by making better use of the mechanism of the PMHA and its Centralised Data Management Service (CDMS). QIP contains a suite of four complementary activities to be undertaken within the context of the available funding. 

1. Implementation of Consumer Perceptions of Care (CPoC) Measure. This first activity involves the implementation of a standardised measure of CPoC in all private hospital–based psychiatric services across Australia. This project builds on the findings of the CPoC Pilot Study described below. 
2. Outcomes in Private Psychiatry Practice. Work on this second activity will establish a research network of psychiatrists evaluating outcomes within the context of their private psychiatry practice.
3. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This activity involves preliminary work to scope what models of care are currently being used for people with a diagnosis of BPD.
4. Internet Access to the PMHA’s Centralised Data Management Service (CDMS). This fourth activity involves a scoping exercise to determine the requirements for a model Agreement that would enable appropriate and secure internet–based access for participating stakeholders to the data currently held by the PMHA’s CDMS.

The Project commenced in January 2011.  Work Programs for each of the project activities are described in much more detail in the attached Project Brief.

PMHA Quality Improvement Project Brief (86KB)

Information related to specific project activities may be found under the following links:

    Psychiatrist Workload Study, March 2012

Information regarding consumers’ perceptions of care (CPoC) is of great interest to all stakeholders concerned with the assurance of service quality and effectiveness and is a critical component of an effective quality improvement process.

In 2006, with funds jointly provided by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (under the National Mental Health Strategy), the Australian Private Hospitals Association and the Australian Health Insurance Association, the Australian Medical Association undertook the Consumer Perceptions of Care Pilot Study. Our hypothesis was that the existing nationally consistent approach to the collection of data for outcome measurement could provide a framework within which a standardised measure of CPoC might also be collected and reported. In order to test that hypothesis we undertook a pilot study of the collection and reporting process as a whole.

Eight private hospitals participated in the study, with surveys being completed and submitted by 731 consumers. The findings of the study clearly indicate that the routine collection and reporting of consumer perceptions of care by private hospital–based psychiatric services is both feasible and useful. Our conclusion was that the routine collection, analysis and reporting of consumer perceptions of care will add a critical element to the overall process of evaluation, enabling consumers to give direct voice to their views regarding the quality and effectiveness of the care they receive.

Final report of the Private Hospitals CPoC Study (3115KB)