Circular Details
1. Purpose
The purpose of this Operational Instruction is to provide guidelines on the development and maintenance of programs in PSOLIS.
This Operational Circular should be read in conjunction with Operational Circulars:
2. Background
The transfer from the Local Area Mental Health Information System (LAMHIS) to the new mental health clinical information system (PSOLIS) has provided an opportunity to establish a clearly defined organisation and service provider context for all public mental health services. This has assisted in streamlining the tasks of recording and reporting of mandatory information including the National Outcome and Casemix Collection (NOCC) and the National Minimum Data Sets Mental Health Care (NMDS).
Designing a system to identify and classify mental health service providers raises complex issues. Service organisations typically provide an array of services through a number of discrete 'service units' or teams which include inpatient units, community-based residential facilities, hospital and community-based outpatient services, mobile assessment and treatment services. The clinical pathways between the various units are also complex. In addition to being transferred from inpatient care to ambulatory or community-based care, clients may also be transferred between ambulatory care teams or receive care from more than one ambulatory service within an organisation at the same time.
A hierarchical approach is the most effective way to deal with the array of services that constitute a mental health establishment and this approach is consistent with the National Health Data Dictionary approach to identifying health care establishments. Figure 1 illustrates the hierarchical reporting structure of a typical mental health organisation in Western Australia. While the Region, Organisation, Stream (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Adult and Older Persons) and Settings (Inpatient, Ambulatory and Community Residential) have already been established, the programs providing services within these units may require some amendments.
Figure 1: Structure of Mental Health Services in WA
Key: CI1 refers to a CAMHS Inpatient Program. CA1 refers to a CAMHS Ambulatory Program. This is consistent across service streams.
Note: Inpatient or Ambulatory settings could have many programs attached to their service, not just one as shown in the figure above. Community Residential setting not shown.
3. Amending/Creating programs in PSOLIS
The reasons for establishing a program in PSOLIS should be clearly understood and include:
Heads (Managers or Directors) of Mental Health Services (MHS) are responsible for reviewing the current programs within their organisation and if amendments are required, the form 'Process for Creating, Closing or Renaming a PSOLIS program' is to be completed. It is available on the PSOLIS website: http://tst.psolis.health.wa.gov.au/docs.asp. The completed form is to be forwarded to the Health Information Centre (HIC) for assessment and approval. This approval will be authorised by the Office of Mental Health and the HIC will allocate a program number. The HIC will then inform the relevant MHS Head, the PSOLIS team and the Hospital Morbidity Data System about this change. A flow chart outlining this process is also available at the same location of the website detailed above.
4. Date effective
The effective date for MHS to implement this operational circular is the date of issue.
Dr Aaron GrovesDIRECTOROFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH
This circular last updated: Thursday, 17 February 2005 at 12:00am
