PANDA Helpline 2023 Independent Review
In March 2023, PANDA engaged Impact Co. to undertake an independent Review of the PANDA Helpline.
In March 2023, Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) engaged Impact Co. to undertake an independent Review of the PANDA National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline.
The objective of the Review was to identify recommendations for service
improvements to Helpline service delivery and to increase the likelihood the Helpline will continue to meet the needs of callers.
While there are many recommendations, few are surprising given the comparably small investment of funds to deliver a service of this scale. As such, PANDA calls for ongoing and additional financial investment to increase capacity, respond to demand and deliver on the recommendations of the Review.
“Last time I called, I was on hold for about an hour and I just gave up despite it being a really tough day for me…the feeling of not getting to talk to someone, even for 5 minutes, made me feel even worse.”
Goals of the Review:
- Understand the needs of Helpline callers and those that chose not to use it.
- Examine the experience of Helpline callers.
- Understand whether the Helpline is meeting the needs of callers.
- Understand whether the Helpline is being delivered as intended, e.g. enablers and barriers to effective service delivery; and
- Examine the strengths and areas of improvement
for the delivery of the Helpline.
The Review took place over 4 months, 3 March 2023 to 23 June 2023.
Consultation
Engaging and seeking feedback from the community and PANDA staff was a focus of the review. During the project, we engaged with:
- 386 people who participated via 3 surveys
- 41 people who attended 11 focus groups.
“[Peers] have a shared lived experience which was so important.”
“Speaking to the PANDA team made me feel seen and heard and provided critical support while I waited for my first psychologist appointment.”
In addition to the urgent need for more financial investment to increase capacity to respond to demand, the Review identified 7 insight areas, each with recommendations to grow and improve the Helpline.
In order of strategic focus, they are:
Key Features
Overwhelmingly, the Helpline is seen as a unique valued and necessary, specialised service. There is an opportunity to further enhance awareness of PANDA’s service offerings. peer support model to reflect contemporary practice in peer support.
1. Increase promotion of PANDA’s full suite of offerings, while further refining value proposition.
2. Continue to develop a contemporary peer support model, embedded across all levels of PANDA.
Target Cohort
While the Helpline is highly valued by those who use it, there are barriers to access for several cohorts within the community.
1. Continue to improve accessibility and inclusiveness of the Helpline for priority populations.
2. Review the routine capture of data collection to improve reporting quality, particularly in relation to target communities.
Care and supports provided
The Helpline makes a difference to callers; however it is not consistently providing timely support due to user demand and system inefficiencies. This requires greater alignment between the type of support most often provided and the Helpline’s documented model of care, which was impacted significantly during Covid.
1. Consider ways to secure more funding to meet caller demand.
2. Explore options for callers in after hours periods and provide choice for when they want and need to access support.
3. Refine demand management strategy and caller flow process.
4. Review and update the Helpline’s model of care to better align to brief Helpline-based mental health interventions as a first ‘point of care’.
4. Implement routine outcome data collection.
5. Continue regular engagement with community and staff to validate
service improvements.
6. Continue to enhance the focus on infant mental health.
Workforce
The PANDA workforce is highly skilled and credentialed, however harnessing staff knowledge, driving clinical and peer team collaboration and ensuring PANDA’s approach to peer practice remains contemporary is a priority.
1. Advocate for funding for more specialised peer practice and lived experience roles.
2. Develop contemporary peer support model across all levels of PANDA.
3. Establish clearer monitoring and outcome measures for the peer support team.
4. Identify ways staff and volunteers can work on strategic/organisational projects.
5. Simplify mechanisms for staff and volunteers to provide feedback and collaborative decision-making.
6. Review internal communication strategies.
Supporting systems and Infrastructure
The Helpline’s call queuing and call-back system is reducing the efficiency of service delivery and demand management.
1. Ensure available funding to continue to develop digital call delivery system.
2. Prioritise inbound calls in the new Helpline systems.
3. Implement a call booking system.
4. Consider online live chat.
System Integration
Awareness of PANDA is high amongst healthcare providers but understanding of the Helpline service offerings is low.
1. Improve awareness and understanding among health care providers, in particular GPs.
2. Continue to advocate for PANDA in pre-existing channels.
Governance & monitoring
Improve PANDA’s outcome monitoring to better demonstrate the effectiveness of Helpline services, internally and externally.
1. Update the monitoring and evaluation framework.
2. Implement dashboards or other mechanisms to provide staff with live/regular feedback.
3. Improve staff engagement in monitoring dashboards and outcomes.
PANDA National Helpline
Find someone to talk to, Monday to Saturday.
1300 726 306
Call 000 for police and ambulance if you or someone else are in immediate danger
Talk with friends or family
Consider talking about how you are feeling with someone you trust. This might be a friend or family member. Once you starting talking you might be surprised at how many others have had similar experiences and the support they can provide you.
Talk with your doctor
Talking with your doctor can be an important step to getting the help you need. They should be able to give you non-judgemental support, assessment, diagnosis, and ongoing care and treatment. They can also refer you to specialists such as a counsellor, psychologist or psychiatrist.
Get help now
If you are having suicidal thoughts or are feeling disorientated it’s important to get help immediately. PANDA is not a crisis service, if you need immediate support call Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7).