S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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inpatient mental health services, jointly funded by state, territory and Federal governments (AIHW, 2015c). For example, 163 public hospitals provided mental health services for admitted patients during 2012–2013. These facilities combined had 6,768 specialised mental health beds available. In addition, 56 private hospitals delivered specialised mental health services, providing 2,286 specialised mental health service beds (AIHW, 2014c). Community mental health programs are also crucial to the management of mental illness, but most funds are spent treating hospital episodes of care, representing a reactionary approach rather than one of prevention or health promotion (AIHW, 2015d; Medibank & Nous Group, 2013). As a result, the largest proportion of government funds spent on mental healthcare go towards acute care services (AIHW, 2015c, 2015d; Mental Health Services in Australia, 2013). Spending on acute mental healthcare services has been increasing at a greater rate than any other specialty in the healthcare system, consistent with the deinstitutionalisation of mental health patients beginning in the early 1990s (Rosen, 2006), a national increase in the prevalence of mental illness and an increasing reliance on acute care services (Medibank & Nous Group, 2013). Because of the complexity of funding models and the number of different agencies involved in delivering mental health services, this spending has not been undertaken using a coordinated national approach (National Mental Health Commission, 2014). These issues, combined with a tighter fiscal environment, have driven recent mental health reform (National Mental Health Commission, 2014). In response, policymakers have prioritised meeting service gaps, especially concerning early intervention and prevention services, adequate housing and accommodation (Council of Australian Governments, 2011). The reform agenda has been facilitated by the National