Medicare Mental Health Centres (formerly Head to Health) Implementation Co-Evaluation

All staff involved in implementing the new Medicare Mental Health Centre model of care had a chance to help us learn about and improve these services through this process.

This project was funded and coordinated by Neami and conducted in partnership with ALIVE using a co-evaluation approach to learn more about the implementation of the pilot services and continue to improve.

Neami staff, guests and other stakeholders were involved in the project as participants and in co-design processes to help design how the co-evaluation was conducted.

The co-evaluation aims were to provide an overview of the implementation of the Medicare Mental Health services at approximately one year into their delivery to enable learning about enablers and barriers to implementation of these pilot services to provide an evidence base to enhance the model of care.

The aims of this project were to understand:

• Who is using the centres, why, how, and their experience of use
• Integration of the centres into local service ecosystems
• The local implementation experience
• Neami’s service model and learnings from early implementation

The project had a variety of data collection phases and approaches including co-design groups, interviews, surveys, eco-mapping and document analyses to obtain wide range of participant perspectives.

Guest experiences

• Over 94% were satisfied with their care and being supported by an integrated team of clinically trained and peer trained workers.
• Guests experienced accessible support delivered in a calm, relaxed environment where they had space and time to share their stories.
• Services were presenting affordable and timely mental health support in a new and evolving way that filled gaps within the service system.
• Guests said care was non-judgemental, relational and provided hope.
• Guests most frequently found out about the Centres from other mental health services (28%), word of mouth (25%), a GP/Doctor (17%) or via online search (12%).
• Most guests were satisfied with the care they received and being supported by clinicians and peer workers (94%) and the future help or connection with other supports and hopeful of a way forward (90%).
• Almost all guests reported feeling safe using the services (97%). All Medicare Mental Health Centre guests were satisfied with the physical environment (93% at Urgent Mental Health Care Centre).
• Most guests felt their situation, needs and wishes were understood (92%) and that their care focused on what mattered to them (93%). About 25% of Medicare Mental Health Centre guests and 59% of Urgent Mental Health Care Centre guests each month had previously accessed care through the services.
• At Urgent Mental Health Care Centre 42% of guests (routine data) and 12% of Head to Health guests (service data) would have otherwise attended an emergency department.

Staff experiences

Staff identified that:

• Services provided a welcoming, calm and safe environment for guests (service term for people seeking support).
• Guests were feeling supported and welcomed.
• Services filled gaps in the service system. – Staff went above and beyond to look after each other and the community.
• Staff were committed to person centred care and creating safety with guests.
• There were some challenges in integrating within the service system.
• The service model and approach are positive but structure and care pathways in, out and through the services needs further development.

For more detailed findings please refer to the links to the ‘Snapshots’ from ALIVE below.

• What is an Implementation Co-Evaluation? A Snapshot on the Framework and its application in Medicare Mental Health Centres
• Who accesses Neami National Medicare Mental Health Centres? An Implementation Co-Evaluation Snapshot #1
• Who delivers care in Neami National Medicare Mental Health Centres? Implementation Co-Evaluation Snapshot #2
• What are the guest experiences of care in Neami National Medicare Mental Health Centres? An Implementation Co-Evaluation Snapshot #3

Neami National and The ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation.

Completed.