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Experiences of care

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Key points Why are experience of care measures important? Where can I find more information?

Patient reported experience measures (PREMs) are important tools in monitoring the safety and quality of the Australian mental health care system and driving service improvement. PREMs collect patients’ views about their experience of health services and the impact or outcomes of those services.

This section shows key points from survey data on mental health service experiences. More information and data can be found at the published report pages for each survey.

Key points

Australian population

In 2023–24, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Patient Experience Survey of the Australian population showed that in the previous 12 months:

19% of Australians aged 15 years and over reported needing to see a health professional for their mental health

38% of these people delayed or didn’t see a health professional for their mental health on at least one occasion; 10% didn’t see one at all

About half of these people reported cost as a reason for delaying or not seeing a mental health professional when needed

This survey is conducted and reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. More information is available at the Patient experiences report.

Public mental health services

In the reporting year 2023–24 in Australia, the Your Experience of Service (YES) survey showed:

Between 49% and 83% of survey responses indicated a positive experience of service

Responses from admitted care were less likely to indicate a positive experience of service

Responses from people with a Voluntary mental health legal status were generally more likely to indicate a positive experience of care

Experience of care ratings differ by service setting, respondent demographics and mental health legal status. More information is available at the Consumer experiences in public mental health services report.

Private hospital mental health services

In the reporting year 2023–24 in Australia, the Australian Private Hospitals Association Patient (APHA) Experiences of Care Survey found:

83% of overnight inpatient care survey responses indicated a positive experience of service

85% of ambulatory care survey responses indicated a positive experience of service

Survey responses from young females were less likely to indicate a positive experience of service

Data are collated by the APHA. More information is available at the Patient experiences of care in mental health services provided by private hospitals report and the Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service reports page.

Why are experience of care measures important?

Patient rated experience of care measures provide important information that can be used for:

  • services to identify areas they are doing well and areas where they may need to improve
  • quality improvement initiatives to build better mental health services
  • understanding how well services are meeting expectations in areas such as responsiveness, appropriateness, respect and inclusion, and impact

Consumer and carer experiences of public mental health care are identified as a data priority area in the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement.

Where can I find more information?

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