Is headspace making a difference to young people’s lives?

5. Service Delivery Model
the provision of seamless service provision. Data indicates that many centres operate with staffing
vacancies and/or service gaps. In the Centre Manager’s Survey, 14 of 29 respondents confirmed that
they were operating with a staffing vacancy. Twenty-two of 29 respondent managers also stated that
they were operating with a service gap (defined in the survey as a need for a practitioner type but no
funding to fill the position). Service gaps were for a range of different positions but most commonly
managers reported needing additional GP and psychiatrist hours (13 of 22 managers identified this
service gap). Some respondents mentioned that due to service gaps they were operating with a
greater demand for services than could be met by available staff:
The main issue we are facing with headspace is the difficulty in attracting GPs and clinical
psychologists into the service (Survey Response No 26 . 38)
Need staff recruited who have relevant qualifications, skills and knowledge to provide clinical
services (Survey Response No. 192)
More staff needed to meet the ongoing mental health of young people in [location name]
(Survey Response No. 187)
The headspace model has inherent difficulties associated with being able to recruit qualified
staff (Survey Response No. 191)
These responses are not surprising as headspace is operating and expanding during a period
marked by a nationwide skills shortage in the mental health sector. The undersupply and
maldistribution of skilled mental health workers typically impacts young people in regional and
remote areas (MHWAC, 2011). However, as indicated in Chapter 3 above (which details the overrepresentation
of young people from regional areas as clients), headspace is helping to build
greater equity in service access for young people in regional and remote areas within a challenging
workforce environment.
During fieldwork, staff and service providers were also asked to identify any gaps in service delivery
at their site. The most frequently reported service gap was in the area of family and carer support.
Not surprisingly, the second most frequently identified gap was in relation to GP services – this was
identified as a service gap by staff at all fieldwork sites. Some interviewed staff reported a need to
increase the amount of time that a GP was providing services to headspace clients. There was an
identified need to expand the amount of time that GPs operated and the range of GP services on
offer in three fieldwork sites. Staff described how one GP was unable to offer any expanded services
because they spent almost all their time developing mental health care plans:
We thought when she first started that we’d like to get to the point where – she does all of
our mental health care plans – she’d like to start getting to other areas, like sexual
health check, promoting good sexual health, contraception and stuff. And she tries to get
there, but then we swamp her again with all of these new clients coming in to do our mental
health care plans (headspace non-practitioner)
This quote highlights the important role of GPs as gatekeepers to MBS funding. A GP at another
site commented on the need to have another GP in-house. He felt that employing and training GPs
onsite was preferable to using external GPs because ‘there’s a higher consistency with prescribing
guidelines and evidence-based practice. I often see people under the age of 18 who are prescribed
something not appropriate’.
Staff in three other sites identified sexual health counselling as a service gap. Finally, the provision of
drug and alcohol services, outreach mental health services, and free legal advice for young people
were also identified as service gaps. The data suggests then that local resource issues and difficulty
recruiting staff with particular expertise in certain areas may result in some young people receiving
care from practitioners without specific expertise in a particular area. Further, data suggests that the
provision of physical health services to young people may be most affected by staff vacancies and
service gaps.
26
This is the number automatically given to survey respondents during online survey implementation. The number is
reported here to distinguish between respondents.
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
75