Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care - a general practice perspective

THE BURDEN OF DISEASE AND INJURY report of 1999 noted that the "remarkable progress in the physical and material wellbeing for most Australians over the twentieth century has not necessarily been matched by gains in mental and subjective wellbeing". In 1996, mental illness was associated with nearly 30% of the non-fatal disease burden in Australia.1

The need for a national approach to mental health reform was formally acknowledged with the development in 1992 of the National Mental Health Strategy, which gave birth to the National Mental Health Plan 1992-1998,2 and was subsequently reaffirmed by the second and third National Mental Health Plans in 1998(3) and 2003.4 As a part of …