Primary Health Tasmania is progressing the Mental Health Continuum of Care Project to improve Tasmanians’ experience of and outcomes from the mental health services we commission.
Other Primary Health Networks have successfully transitioned to continuum of care models, achieving improvements in streamlined care.
Our focus will initially be on the following types of services we commission:
Primary Health Tasmania is committed to an inclusive development process for the new service model.
We believe the best outcomes are achieved when the development of new models is collaborative.
Throughout this project, we have been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders – including service providers and people with lived experience. This will ensure our approach is not only comprehensive but also holds true to the experiences of those impacted by our services.
We undertook an internal evaluation of the four in-scope commissioned mental health programs listed above to assess how well they are meeting the needs of Tasmanians and to identify opportunities for improvement. Click here for a summary of this evaluation, which drew on data as well as provider, referrer and client input.
The next phase saw us – along with our external consultant Scyne Advisory – hold consultation sessions with a range of service providers, advocacy organisations, healthcare professionals, service users, and other people who have engaged with mental health services. This helped us identify some key elements of a potential new model. Click here for a summary of the consultation.
Further workshops with our commissioned mental health and alcohol and other drugs support services focused on testing and refining these elements.
The extensive evaluation and consultation process has led to the development of a draft new service model focused on a mental health continuum of care.
The draft model reflects the insights gathered through earlier consultation with service providers, people with lived experience and other stakeholders. This work has informed the new service model and the next phase of the project.
Click here to read the proposed new service model. Feedback has been received and is currently being incorporated.
The next stages of the project will involve:
Primary Health Tasmania will continue to work closely with contracted providers throughout the transition to support service continuity and a safe, planned approach to change.
In November, we held market sounding meetings with impacted providers and received several questions. We are working to incorporate clarity on these questions into the procurement process, which is expected to be released in February 2026. In the meantime please familiarise yourself with our tendering process: Tenders – Primary Health Tasmania
If you have any questions about this project, please send us an email.