Data, circumstance and politics: reflections on regional mental health planning

Abstract

We use our experience as consultants to a regional mental health planning project in South Australia to describe three practical aspects of regional health planning. First, we systematically summarised various data on socio-demographic indicators, health status and health service use along with qualitative opinion about needs and services from consultations with over 200 stakeholders. In addition to these data, we found that attention to two other aspects of planning, circumstance and politics, were of critical importance, particularly if the plan was to be implemented and as a way of turning thinking into action.