Submission on Primary Health Network program performance management

Mental Health Australia provided a submission on behalf of our members to the Australian National Audit Office’s audit of the Department of Health and Aged Care’s performance management of the Primary Health Network program.

The submission points to issues with inconsistent approaches across PHNs creating inefficiencies in the PHN Program overall, a lack of transparency and accountability with limited public data on PHN performance, and Department of Health and Aged Care delays impacting on the ability of PHNs and service providers to operate effectively.

Mental Health Australia called for the Department of Health and Aged Care to review the PHN Program Performance and Quality Framework to ensure it continues to be fit for purpose, increase transparency in funding and commissioning across PHNs, implement recommendations of the Australian Public Service Commission Capability review to build the Department’s evaluation capability and improve information and data sharing across PHNs to support national monitoring.