Last month, the State Government announced the final outcome of the Independent Review of WA Health System Governance.
The Chief Psychiatrist sat on the Minister’s Working Party to advise on recommendations relating to the governance mental health and AOD sectors. The Office of the Chief Psychiatrist’s (OCP) leadership team also took part in stakeholder workshops to investigate how governance issues within the sector can be streamlined and addressed.
The State Government has now committed to developing a new mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) strategy, embedding greater lived experience leadership into health governance and the appointing senior mental health executives in each Health Service Provider (HSP), among other reforms.
The role of the Chief Psychiatrist the OCP remain fundamentally unchanged by the outcomes of this Independent Governance Review. However, as the authority tasked with maintaining standards of mental health treatment and care, the Chief Psychiatrist and the OCP will significant role in how these mechanisms of reform are developed and progressed.
The Chief Psychiatrist looks forward to working with the Minister, HSPs, consumers and lived experience advisors in bringing about these reforms to the mental health system.