This response advocates that the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ASQHC) co-design the new Standards with consumers of mental health services.  This means not only consulting and engaging with consumers, but offering consumer led development of the Standards. 

Consumers should be directly involved and engaged at every stage of the project.  CHF recommends that ACSQHC work with consumers – including carers and families of people with mental health conditions – to understand their “journeys” and their needs along the way, for example, using personas to understand and respond to varying conditions, co-morbidities (including the combination of mental health, physical conditions and disabilities that may be experienced by many consumers), and medical and non-medical services that may be used in combination.

CHF consultations with members and other consumers also identified subjects for the Commission’s consideration when developing domains and actions for community managed organisations.