Patient Safety Centre

Patient Safety and Quality Reform in Mental Health

Over the past few years, an increased focus on the safety of mental health service delivery in Australia has seen the implementation of many initiatives to monitor and improve the safety of mental health service patients. In 2005, the National safety priorities in mental health; a national plan for reducing harm was published. The goal of this plan is to identify, avoid, or reduce, actual or potential harm from mental health care delivery in all environments in which it is delivered. This document outlines strategies which may be employed to address four priority areas:

Reducing suicide and deliberate self harm in mental health services
Reducing use of, and where possible eliminating, restraint and seclusion
Reduce adverse drug events in mental health services
Safe transport of people experiencing mental disorders

Among other deliverables, the PSC shares learnings regarding adverse event management and prevention via data collection and analysis. In the context of mental health, the PSC has responsibility for:

Supporting health services to manage adverse mental health events
Monitoring and analysis of mental health adverse events
Use of incident data to inform and support multiple safety initiatives

Learn more about what Patient Safety Centre is doing about Patient Safety and Quality in Mental Health Services

Achieving Balance Queensland Mental Health Patient Safety Plan
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Last Updated: 31 October 2008
Last Reviewed: 31 October 2008