Child and Adolescent Forum
Forum participants
Participants in the Child and Adolescent Forum were:
- Eastern Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (VIC)
- Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area Health Service (NSW)
- Mater Child & Youth Mental Health Services (QLD)
- South Metro Area Health Service – Bentley (WA)
- Southern Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services – Flinders Medical Centre (SA)
- ACT Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (ACT)
Comparative Indicators Workbook
‘Comparative Indicators 3-year time series, 2004-05 to 2006-07, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services Forum’ presents the national KPIs for each of the organisations in tabular and graphical format. All KPIs are derived from the data submitted by each organisation for each of the years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, and constructed according to the specifications and definitions described in National Mental Health Benchmarking Project Manual.
The second part of the workbook groups the national KPIs, plus a number of supplementary indicators, into a number of themes.
- Comparative resources available to the organisation
- Efficiency in use of resources
- Productivity and activity of ambulatory services
- Continuity of care
- Access to ambulatory care
- Access to acute inpatient care
- Capability
- Ungrouped supplementary indicators
The themes were selected only on the basis of what is feasible from the available data. They were not intended to restrict participating organisations to the eight categories, nor pre-empt where organisations focused their benchmarking effort.
KPI Review
To facilitate the evaluation of the suitability of the 13 national indicators for benchmarking mental health services, each forum completed a comprehensive review of the national Key Performance indicators (KPIs) utilising the criteria outlined in Table 1 and made recommendations regarding their definition, specification, targets and appropriateness for benchmarking at the mental health service organisation level. Part one provides an overview of the discussion and recommendations made by the Child and Adolescent Forum in relation to the nationally agreed KPIs.
In addition to the 13 national KPIs each forum looked at a range of additional and supplementary performance and contextual indicators. These indicators were reviewed against their relevance, utility, feasibility and interpretability. Recommendations were made in regards to the appropriateness of each indicator for benchmarking and whether the indicator should be considered for inclusion within the national indicator set (either in addition to or as replacement for an existing indicator). The outcomes of the discussion from the Child and Adolescent Forum are in Part Two of this document.
Special Projects
The Child and Adolescent Benchmarking Forum undertook two special projects: the Staff Activity Survey and Community/ Inpatient Discharges.