The psychiatric profession has the ability to help the federal government improve the mental health programs and services it provides to the specific populations for which it is responsible.

Given the specific populations for which it is responsible, the federal government is often referred to as the fifth largest health care delivery organization in Canada.

There are opportunities for Canada’s psychiatrists to help improve the cost-effectiveness of mental health services and programs to these defined populations and help make progress on health outcomes.

Take advantage of the CPA’s extensive knowledge and our existing efforts to improve the mental health programs and services and health outcomes of those populations for which the federal government has specific responsibility (First Nations, Canadian Forces,
Corrections, veterans, RCMP and public servants).

• CPA has a Section on First Nations Health, where psychiatrists meet to discuss issues related to First Nations mental health.
• CPA recently created a Military and Veterans Section – and has been meeting with the Canadian Forces to discuss how psychiatry can contribute to mental health programming and how we can support the military’s mental health strategy.
• CPA is supportive of the general theme of the jury’s recommendations around the death of Ashley Smith, and has asked the Minister of Public Safety to move forward.
• Canada’s psychiatrists stand ready to assist with workplace health and employee productivity within the federal public service.

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To more effectively assess the performance of Canada’s mental health programs and services, we need more comprehensive health indicators and health expenditure data.

Right now, there are no agreed upon mental health indicators that give us a clear picture of how the mental health system is performing.

When it comes to mental health expenditures, we only have data related to hospital-based care.

There are currently no provincial-territorial wait time indicators for psychiatry.

Through the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the federal government can play a significant role in developing more effective tools to measure the performance of the mental health system in Canada.

• Important work has already been initiated in the area of health indicators (Mental Health Commission of Canada) and mental health expenditures (Canadian Institute for Health Information), but more needs to be done to make this a priority.
• We are in the early stage of mental health indicator development.
• The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has hospital-based information on mental health, but little information on mental health expenditures in the community.
• The CPA would be pleased to work with CIHI to develop a more robust dataset on mental health.

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Accelerating the adoption of innovations in mental health programs and services in Canada.

Adopting proven innovations on a country-wide basis is crucial to improving the overall mental health Canadians and bettering patient outcomes.

Across Canada, there are pockets of excellence in mental health, but we do not have the resources to ensure that they are spread across the health system.

The CPA believes that the Government of Canada can build on the solid foundation of the Mental Health Commission of Canada by creating a strategically-targeted, time-limited Mental Health Innovation Fund (The Fund).

• The Fund would be time-limited—$250 million over five years—and accelerate the spread of evidence-based mental health programs and services that we know are effective at the community level.
• While there are a number of innovative programs and services in mental health, the Fund would provide the resources needed to advance the broader uptake of innovations that improve patient access, quality of care and health outcomes.
• The Fund would fulfill an important component of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Strategy including Strategic Direction 3 on access to services and Strategic Direction 6 on leadership and collaboration.
• These innovations would directly benefit those populations for which the federal government is responsible such as First Nations, Canadian Forces, Correctional Services, veterans, RCMP and public servants.

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