The Integrated Mental Health Atlas of Western Sydney

Abstract

The Integrated Mental Health Atlas of Western Sydney LHD provides a tool for evidence-informed planning, and critical analysis of the pattern of adult mental health care. The Atlas provided an updated description of the Mental Health service availability, workforce capacity and placement capacity in different sectors including health care, social care, employment, education, crime and justice, and housing. It also allowed comparisons of the Mental Health provisions with local areas in other countries. The Atlas revealed four possible gaps in mental health care in Western Sydney LHD: (i) a lack of acute and sub-acute community residential care; (ii) an absence of services providing acute day care and non-acute day care; (iii) low availability of specific employment services for people with a lived experience of mental ill-health; and (iv) a lack of comprehensive data on the availability of supported housing.