Our team leads and supports statewide mental health safety program. We work with clinicians and executives to coproduce, test, implement evidence-based improvements and coordinates safety reviews. Our team provides expert advice to health services to build reliable, sustainable, person-centred systems of care. Our work strengthens safety resilience, harm reduction, and improving the patient experience across NSW.
Our work is part of the Systems Safety Improvement business unit, alongside patient safety improvement initiatives.
Our goal
By 2033, NSW mental health services will lead safety and quality improvement that improves outcomes and experience for consumers and staff.
Priority areas
We focus on four priority areas where improvement efforts can have the greatest impact on mental health safety:
- seclusion and restraint reduction
- physical health
- medication safety
- suicide prevention
Our approach
We support mental health services to improve safety through four connected areas of work:
Safety culture
Support leaders to create cultures where teams can continuously improve the safety of mental health care.
Safety and quality improvement capability
Equipping mental health staff at all levels with the knowledge and skills needed to lead and partner with consumers.
Data and evidence
Use data and evidence to support learning and share insights across teams, services and the NSW mental health system.
Partnerships
We work alongside consumers, carers, clinicians, mental health services, the NSW Ministry of Health and NSW Health organisations to support shared learning and improvement.
This includes:
- partnering with consumers and carers to inform safety and quality improvement
- supporting frontline teams and clinicians to identify and address safety challenges
- strengthening collaboration across inpatient, community and specialist services
- working across the NSW health system to support coordinated approaches to priority safety issues.
How we work
Our work is guided by six principles:
- Put consumers, families, carers and staff at the centre of improvement.
- Build trust and psychological safety through fair, just and learning cultures.
- Support leadership at every level of the system.
- Empower staff with the time, space, skills and support to improve care.
- Use data and evidence to guide learning and decision-making.
- Strengthen collaboration across services, settings and organisations.
How this work was developed
Our approach is informed by the experiences of consumers, carers and mental health staff across NSW. We surveyed and interviewed staff, analysed incident data, and consulted with executives, clinicians, peer support workers and consumers to identify key safety priorities.