Mental health services in Australia

Demographics

18,465 admitted care consumers responded to the YES survey in 2018–19. The highest number of responses was from consumers aged 25–34 years (3,508 or 21.7%), followed by consumers aged 35–44 (3,163 or 19.6%) and 45–54 (2,932 or 18.1%). This is consistent with the observed demographic patterns for these data collections. More responses were received from male (50.9%) than female (48.0%) consumers and 184 responses were from consumers who identified as ‘Other’ gender (1.1%).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers returned 1,894 surveys (11.4%) and non-Indigenous Australians returned 14,774 (88.6%). There were an additional 1,797 surveys returned where Indigenous status of the respondent was not stated or not recorded.

Mental health legal status refers to whether or not a person was provided care under the relevant state or territory mental health legislation compulsory treatment provisions. Of admitted care respondents, 6,271 (46.7%) had an Involuntary status.

Consumers' ratings of care

The YES survey question, ‘Overall, how would you rate your experience of care with this service in the last 3 months?’ provides an overall indication of a respondent’s experience of care. In each state in 2018–19, a higher proportion of respondents in admitted care rated the care they received as ‘Excellent’ than ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’, ‘Fair’ or ‘Poor’ (Figure CP.3).

In New South Wales, 86.4% of respondents in admitted care rated the care they received as ‘Good’, ‘Very Good’, or ‘Excellent’; 74.8% of respondents gave these ratings in Victoria, and 78.1% in Queensland.

Source data Consumer perspectives of mental health care tables 2018–19 (41KB XLSX)

Consumers' experience of service

A nationally agreed overall score out of 100 has been developed to reflect each respondent’s ‘experience of service’ across 22 questions in the YES survey (Further information on the score methodology can be found in the data source section). A score of 80 or above indicates a positive experience of service.

Using this measure, New South Wales had the highest proportion of respondents in admitted care with a positive experience of service (70.1%), followed by Queensland (53.7%) and Victoria (53.0%) (Figure CP.4).

Source data Consumer perspectives of mental health care tables 2018–19 (41KB XLSX)

In 2018–19, the proportion of respondents in admitted care with a positive experience of service score was higher for respondents with Voluntary mental health legal status than Involuntary status and mental health legal status Not recorded. For example, in New South Wales 76.3% of Voluntary status respondents, 65.1% of Involuntary status respondents, and 67.0% with status Not recorded, rated their experience of service positively. A similar pattern was observed for the other two states (Figure CP.5).

Source data Consumer perspectives of mental health care tables 2018–19 (41KB XLSX)

For all 3 states, the proportion of Indigenous respondents in admitted care who generated a positive experience of service score was lower than the proportion for non-Indigenous Australians. New South Wales had the highest proportions, with 68.5% of Indigenous respondents and 70.8% of non-Indigenous respondents rating their experience of service positively. In Victoria, 44.4% of Indigenous respondents and 55.6% of non-Indigenous respondents rated a positive experience of service. In Queensland, 56.3% of Indigenous respondents and 53.2% of non-Indigenous respondents rated their experience of service positively.