This section reports on the outcome of consultations with stakeholder groups. Commentary is structured according to the key domains identified in section 3.1 of this report, expanded to include a specific section on consumer and carer perspectives of the Better Access initiative. The domains include:

  • service accessibility;
  • service appropriateness;
  • service effectiveness;
  • impact on the mental health system;
  • the level of skill, knowledge and integration within the mental health workforce;
  • additional issues informing the summative evaluation; and
  • consumer and carer perspectives on the Better Access initiative.
Addendum 1 reports the outcome of consultations in response to each of evaluation questions outlined in section 2.1.

The comments reported reflect the views of individuals interviewed and should not be assumed to reflect the official position of any particular statutory or professional representative body unless specifically identified as such.

The commentary in this section endeavours to provide an objective representation of the range of opinions expressed and does not reflect the opinion or views of KPMG. Because of the number of consultations undertaken, it is likely that the particular opinion of some individuals in relation to specific issues may not be fully captured in the commentary. This is most likely to be a result of the specific comment being incorporated into more general themes.

Although a common core of issues were explored in each consultation, due to the semi-structured format for the face-to-face and telephone consultations, some issues were only examined in a few cases. The key issues of importance to participants also influenced the content of the consultation, and this varied across consultations. Where new issues were raised during a particular consultation, the evaluation endeavoured to explore these in subsequent consultations.

Given variations in the priorities of focus across consultations and the timing within the consultation staging at which new issues were raised, it is difficult to provide a detailed quantification of the range of opinions expressed. The evaluation does however provide an indicative weighting of the relative strength of opinion by both reporting the approximate number of participants having expressed a particular or similar opinion or the relative strength of the opinion expressed. Where a comment or opinion expressed has been subsequently identified as an error in understanding of the Better Access initiative by the respondent, and the evaluation team has identified that error, this is indicated in the commentary.