What the Royal Commission said
The Royal Commission recommended the establishment of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. This Commission will carry out oversight functions that involve monitoring, inquiring into, and reporting on system-wide quality and safety. It will be an impartial body that holds the government to account, and a source of strong leadership that inspires system-wide cultural change.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will hold the Victorian Government accountable in relation to:
- the performance, safety and quality of the mental health and wellbeing system, including public health and prevention efforts; and
- progress in implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
It will prioritise the following areas in its oversight role:
- the use of seclusion and restraint
- the use of compulsory treatment
- the incidence of gender-based violence in mental health facilities
- the incidence of suicides in healthcare settings.
The Commission’s oversight functions will extend to all providers funded by the Victorian Government to deliver mental health and wellbeing treatment, care and support. This includes services delivered by public health, community health, non-government and private organisations. It also includes delivery in hospitals, the community, public and private prisons, and police cells.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will have powers to handle and investigate complaints about mental health and wellbeing service delivery, conduct inquiries into systemic issues, and provide advice to Victorian Government ministers.
As part of this recommendation, the role of the current Mental Health Complaints Commissioner will transfer to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
What are the opportunities?
The opportunities that arise from the establishment of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission are:
- a strengthened architecture for quality and safety that places consumers at the centre and enables system-wide oversight
- a strengthened regulatory regime for reducing the use of compulsory treatment and restrictive practices
- increased capacity to identify, analyse and monitor specific practices that occur within mental health and wellbeing services
- a coordinated approach to promoting quality and safety
- increased opportunities for consumer leadership and participation in efforts to deliver high-quality and safe mental health and wellbeing treatment, care and support.
What are we doing?
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission was established as an independent statutory authority on 1 September 2023 under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022.
The role of the former Mental Health Complaints Commissioner transferred to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
The functions of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission include to: monitor and publicly report on the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system; undertake resolution processes and investigations into complaints; and conduct inquiries. The composition of the Commission elevates the leadership of people with lived experience.
Reviewed 24 May 2024