National Mental Health Service Accreditation Success

GP down south has been successfully audited to achieve accreditation against the NMHS 2010.

The National Standards for Mental Health Services (NSMHS) Standards, owned by the Australian Government Department of Health, were developed in 2010 as part of the National Mental Health Strategy. The NSMHS Standards are outcome-oriented and reflect a strong values base, related to human rights, dignity and empowerment.

The NSMHS Standards focus on mental health service delivery, policy direction compliance, communication and consent, and monitoring and governance procedures. The NSMHS Standards constantly support service providers to improve by focusing on areas such as service delivery, policies, standards, communication and consent, as well as consumer safety and privacy.

The auditors were very positive about the review and commented on the exemplary service services provided to clients at the closing session; the passion, commitment and knowledge of staff; and the positive culture of the organisation with a focus on continuous quality improvement.

GP down south is quite complex because of our geographic spread and the number and range of programs we provide.  The systems and policies we have in place to run the organisation smoothly impressed the auditors, who were complimentary about the outstanding service provided to clients, and that the services integrate well across the organisation. She said, “every clinician that was spoken to was able to explain the complex environment in which they worked and provided services.” This then made it very easy for her to understand the complexities of the services delivered by GPds.

We now need to develop a structured plan to support the policies and procedures to bring all the services ‘together’. Each policy needed to explain how and why each service worked, and they needed to link in with each other to support the collaborative approach we have to client care.
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The auditors went on to say that the passion and commitment of all staff was to be commended. All of the clients she spoke to gave ‘overwhelmingly glowing reports’ on the services we provide and the differences we were making in their life.