A new mental health clinic and ground-breaking program will be available to Tasmanians to help tackle the State's shortage of mental health services as part of a partnership between Clarity Healthcare and Bupa Health Insurance.
Clarity Health Care has opened its first Tasmanian clinic in Battery Point and has partnered with Bupa Health Insurance to deliver its Mind Care Choices program.
Bupa healthcare professionals developed Mind Care Choices in 2017 to help Bupa members access mental health care in the community and to help reduce high readmission rates for inpatient psychiatric care.
The program has helped reduce the average length of stay in hospital for psychiatric care from 35 days to 13 days, saving an estimated 4840 bed-bed days in 2022 alone.
As part of the Mind Care Choices program, patients receive up to 30 sessions of multidisciplinary care including with a psychologist, occupational therapist, social worker, and registered nurse. Sessions can be individual or in groups and delivered virtually or face-to-face.
Clarity Health Care Chief Medical Officer Dr Matthew Warden said the new clinic would support improving access to mental health care in Tasmania to up to 350 patients annually.
"We are giving mental health patients the support they need as Tasmania grapples with a severe shortage of mental health hospital beds and access to outpatient care services," Dr Warden said.
"Unlike many other clinics, we have all the clinical support people in the one clinic, and we know this multidisciplinary team-based approach leads to stronger recovery outcomes for patients and helps prevent them being readmitted to hospital.
"I'm thrilled we're expanding our services to better support Tasmanians."
Bupa Health Insurance Customer Health and Care Director Adam Simson said since Mind Care Choices launched in 2017, almost 1000 members had benefited from the program, which now runs nationally, with only 18.6% being readmitted to hospital care who are part of the program, compared to 48% who undergo care in a hospital.
"Hospitals do a great job caring for our members with serious mental health issues – but we know the setting is not always right or accessible for everyone and many are after an alternative to hospitalisation, including in the community or in the comfort of their own home," Mr Simson said.
"Community-based care options can be limited so we're proud that through our partnership with Clarity Healthcare, we'll be expanding the offering of our innovative, integrated treatment programs and care through face-to-face appointments, telehealth and in-home outreach.
"Mind Care Choices is just one of the programs we offer as part of our alternative models of care, and I'm pleased our Tasmanian customers can now have this program face to face."
Mind Care Choices is an individually tailored mental health treatment and support program for people who have a diagnosed mental illness and have experienced one or more admissions to a private hospital in the past 12 months.
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