Page 725 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020

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monitoring system project. Data linkage between existing national data sets requires a complex process and cooperation of all data custodians across all jurisdictions. There is no national level database that contains all the relevant data or the right type of data. Progress is being made across multiple levels of government to develop this work. The ACT Government is an active participant in this.

Improving ACT suicide data is a key strategy of ACT Lifespan. ACT Lifespan is collaborating with the Black Dog Institute and the Australian National University (ANU) to progress a study which aims to achieve the most accurate coded and best quality suicide data available in Australia. This data project is currently in its initial stages. Improving ACT suicide data quality will be achieved through data linkage and the analysis and visualisation of spatial relationships within the suicide incident data. This data mapping and analysis will be used to inform the development and implementation of appropriate service provisions and ACT specific suicide prevention programs and strategies.

With respect to community-based organisations, nationally only Western Australia and Queensland have introduced the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Non-Government Organisation (NGO) data collection taxonomy. The AIHW NGO taxonomy provides a foundation but requires review and updating to include an outcomes of care approach rather than a standardised set of inputs and outputs. At present the ACT does not have a standardised minimum data set for NGOs. Work is progressing with respect to ACT NGO data collection.

RECOMMENDATION 2

3.65 The Committee recommends that the ACT Government update this Committee in relation to Australian Government funding negotiations in relation to mental health funding, including the Capital Health Network.

In 2019-20, the Commonwealth Government announced $22.9 million to implement additional Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention services in the ACT community. This component of the ACT Health Plan, see Attachment A, includes funding for:

1. a Residential Eating Disorders Centre ($13.5 million);

2. Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention project ($6 million); and

3. Headspace ($3.4 million)

The ACT Government is currently in the process of negotiating the funding arrangements and Project Agreements for the ACT Health Plan with the Commonwealth. The periods of the Project Agreements are expected to range from 2019-20 to 2023-24.

The ACT Government is committed to partnering with the Capital Health Network to fund and implement mental health and suicide prevention strategies and programs. Over recent years this has included the following:

the development of the ACT Regional Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan;

the implementation of the ACT LifeSpan high-fidelity Suicide Prevention Trial;

the ACT Wayback Suicide Aftercare Support Service which provides non-clinical care and practical support to individuals for up to three months following a suicide attempt;


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