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

5. Service Delivery Model
The Professional Stakeholders Survey did collect some information on one of the primary functions
of the Centre of Excellence – to disseminate best practice information. Results indicate that while
the majority of respondents rated headspace to be ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ (113/199 respondents
or 57%) in disseminating best practice information about youth mental health care to local service
providers, a significant sample (30/199 or 15%) rated headspace as ‘ineffective’ or ‘very ineffective’ in
this role. Further, a higher proportion of survey respondents rated headspace as ‘very ineffective’ or
‘ineffective’ in disseminating best practice information about youth mental health care (15%) than they
were in undertaking other tasks including facilitating connections between local service providers
(23/198 or 12%), providing increased treatment options for young people (13/198 or 7%), or increasing
the capacity of local service delivery (25/199 or 12%).
5.7 To what extent are headspace services linked with other government funded
programs?
As described above, headspace utilises existing government funding streams, in particular the
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS); the ATAPS, the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP)
and the Rural Primary Health Services (RPHS) to provide direct services at centres. As evidenced
in Figure 5.4 below, just under half of headspace services are funded through the MBS (45.5%) and
just over a third by the headspace grant (36%), with the remaining 14.9% of occasions of service
funded through other government funding programs (ATAPS, MHNIP, RPHS), in-kind contributions
from centre lead agencies and consortium members, and other sources of funding. While the
funding source for 3.6% of occasions of service are not known, the results shown highlight that the
overwhelming majority of services provided (89.9% of occasions of service) are funded through
government programs and grants.
Figure 5.4 Direct funding source for headspace occasions of service 30
Source: Authors calculations from hCSA data.
The results highlight the great extent to which headspace services are linked to other government
funded programs. In the Centre Manager’s Survey, respondents acknowledged the important
30
Funding source is reported for occasions of service. Funding source is not reported for approximately 3.6% of
occasions of service within the 2013/14 financial year. Authors calculations from hCSA.
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