Equally Well: Improving the physical health and wellbeing of people living with mental illness in Australia

The Equally Well National Consensus Statement presents agreed actions made a priority at the national state and regional levels to improve the physical health of people living with mental illness. The Consensus Statement comprises six essential elements:

1. A holistic, person centred approach to physical, mental health and wellbeing
2. Effective promotion, prevention and early intervention
3. Equity of access to all services
4. Improved quality of health care
5. Care coordination and regional integration across health, mental health and…other services and sectors which enable a contributing life
6. Monitoring of progress towards improved physical health and wellbeing.

The Consensus Statement applies to all settings where people with mental illness
require care or are in contact with services. This includes specialist mental health
settings, medical and surgical wards, maternity and paediatric units, emergency
departments, primary health care, not for profit organisations, community,
education and employment settings, and the community at large. The principles
and elements of the Consensus Statement are also applicable in situations where
people are being cared for in other settings, for example, in remote clinics, specialist
outpatient clinics, justice health and community managed organisations.1
The Consensus Statement has been developed for:
• members of the workforce who are involved in the provision of health care
• health service executives and managers responsible for the development,
implementation and review of systems for delivering health care, including
mental health care
• providers of clinical education and training, including universities and
professional colleges
• providers of whole of workforce training programs
• planners and policy makers responsible for the development of state, territory,
or other strategic programs dealing with the delivery of mental health care and
related services
• people who have mental illness, their families and other support people.
By describing what best practice looks like, the Consensus Statement also enables
people with mental illness to understand how they can collaborate with health care
workers and support people to effectively manage their physical health.