Central and Eastern Sydney Regional Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan

Through the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement bilateral schedule, the Commonwealth and New South Wales government have acknowledged the importance of regional planning to identify local communities’ specific mental health support needs.

As a joint plan, this Regional Plan commits the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN, Sydney Local Health District, South-Eastern Sydney Local Health District, St. Vincent’s Health Network and the Sydney Children’s Hospital to collaborate to achieve integration in planning and service delivery. Joining this consortium in developing and implementing the Regional Plan are the peak bodies for people with lived experience (Being NSW), for carers (NSW Mental Health Carers), and for community-managed organisations (the Mental Health Coordinating Council).

This Regional Plan established a platform from which we will engage with other key agencies and stakeholders to work together and combine resources to pursue shared priorities identified by the community.

The Regional Plan 2024-26 was submitted to the Department of Health and Aged Care on 7 March 2024 and you can find a copy of the Plan here.

If you have further questions, require further information, or would like to be involved please email: regionalplan@cesphn.com.au

Background

The Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan established an expectation to develop joint regional mental health and suicide prevention plans by Primary Health Networks, Local Health Districts and Specialty Health Networks.

This aimed to improve mental health, physical health, and wellbeing of people with or at risk of mental health issues or at risk of suicide.

With out partners we developed the foundational plan for our region, known as The Central and Eastern Sydney Regional Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan 2019-2022 (the Regional Plan 2019-2022). This plan had a three-year focus with implementation concluding on 30 June 2022.

Despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, substantial progress was made against the ninety-seven actions of the Regional Plan. Either-four percent of these actions have been completed or were substantially progressed. Through this implementation process, we have seen successful developments in the provision of mental healthcare resources, tools, and services. Importantly, CESPHN and its partners have formed strong and outcome-driven partnerships.

You can read a copy of the Regional Plan 2019-2022 here.

You can also read the full Implementation Report and Implementation Evaluation Report.