Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Provision of information, guidance, and crisis response

EMHS furthered work on a project to strengthen our Mental Health Emergency Response Line and its equivalent service for consumers outside the metropolitan area, Rural Link (known collectively as MHERL). 

The improvement project was established in response to recommendations from a 2019 review into the service, which provides 24-hour over-the-phone support for people experiencing a mental health crisis. 

Among the project’s main achievements were: 

• a statewide process for escalation of care and handover of care for consumers with urgent mental health needs 
• improved pathways for facilitating coordinated access for consumers to other mental health and emergency services 
• an enhanced consumer feedback system 
• recruitment of consumers to ensure strong consumer input into the service redesign, ongoing service provision and governance
• strengthened engagement with Aboriginal stakeholders to help MHERL become a more culturally secure service for Aboriginal consumers 
• updated governance processes, as per the Public Sector Commission Good Governance Principles.

Heading into 2022-23, the project will focus on:

• developing and implementing two new roles as part of the MHERL team — a Suicide Intervention Coordinator and Aboriginal Mental Health Worker  
• rebranding of the service to create a unified presence across WA that incorporates consistent messaging about what consumers can expect when contacting the service
• implementing a Statewide Crisis Journey Board to augment existing clinical handover processes and facilitate follow-up of referrals from MHERL
• exploring further opportunities for service provision to CaLD communities and alternative modes of provision, such as Telehealth.