With more than 25 years of international experience in the field of mental health, Patrick has long held important positions in clinical and hospital management. He has served in well-known psychological service institutions in Australia and Ireland, and held clinical and senior management positions in Aurora in Australia. He is the current Chief Clinical Service Officer of Mental Health Department of Mindfront Health.

 

Q：Thank you Patrick for taking this interview, to start with, can you give us a brief introduction about your role with Mindfront Health and the business progress.

Patrick: My official title is the Chief Clinical Services Officer of mental health for China. My overall responsibility is for the transfer of Aurora Australia Group programs and other clinical care materials, and provided by direction on the setting of mental health services. And the delivery model of mental health care based on my Australian experience. I come from a background originally of nursing, but the last 15 years, I worked in an executive role within Aurora hospitals.

Obviously, COVID-19 travel restrictions have been a major problem for both Aurora and Mindfront. The achievement has been, the transfer of group program material and the adaptation of those programs to the local setting. There's been a comprehensive training program delivered on group facilitation. There's been quite a lot of work on the nursing models and the development of nursing practice and training programs. In terms of the medical sides, we are also working on the psychiatrists and developing programs.

 

Q: It's very glad to hear that we have achieved a lot on both sides. And the since you have mentioned about program transfers, could you please introduce about the characteristics and strengths of Australia's mental health care service system, especially with the evidence-based treatment and as well as the integrated medical service system?

Patrick: Mental health care in Australia, there was a defining moment in the early 90s, where the government set out a strategy to change the delivery of services. They started to close the traditional standalone mental health services. As key part of their first 5-year-plan, which have been updated every 5 years was making mental health mainstream. This meant that a patient with a mental health illness is treated no different than other person needing treatment for an illness.

The defining parts of mental health in Australia and within Aurora is that there is standardized care. It's evidence-based in all settings with evidence of outcomes, there is a strong consumer and family /carer involvement the patient is very much involved in decision made about their treatment and family members are included in this decision making if the patient agrees to this. Patient and family /carer involvement isn't just limited to the treatment setting, as mental health services are also encouraged to seek patient and family /carer input into the design of mental health services to make sure that they're consumer-friendly. The accreditation standards for mental health services in both public and private hospitals are exactly the same as every other health service. There is a very clear-defined expectation, within the standards that staff are not just appointed, but services must have training programs and keep their skills up to date at all times. So that's the essence of how Aurora has been run as regards service delivery. That is the model that we're transferring across to Mindfront, because it's a consistent with mental health right across Australia.

But the key thing in the last 5 years has been the efforts to destigmatize mental health. In particular, it's now normalized to talk about depression, anxiety, trauma. I think my experience with it has been that there's a great acknowledgement of the patient need, and a great acknowledgement that the patient has an expectation of care, and services you must meet that expectation. That ensures much better outcomes.

 

Q: Could you please specify with some patient stories regarding the benefits?

Patrick: My most recent experience would have been in an Aurora service was in the setting up of new services. What I saw were patients who previously only had access to the public system. The difference when they moved into the private setting was the continuity of care and the evaluation of care. The patient also knew what to expect. They got consistency in the treatment with the staff and the quality of the type of care delivered was consistent with the patient's needs. What happened over time is the patient begins to appear less often in the service, as their mental health improved.

The patient can then go back to their home and be followed up in the community by their physician. It also means that their home environment can become more structured. And their physical wellness improves with that as well and need for readmission has become less, the key things as regards mental health is understanding, not just the mental health needs of the patient, but actually the medical needs, and having services that are targeted to address both of these needs.

 

Q: From your perspective, how can we use the advanced technology and system in Australia to really benefit the Chinese patients?

Patrick: One of the challenges with the public system is the sheer demand for the services, and that's the same in Australia as well. They are really focused on these very acute type patients. But high prevalence disorders like sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, tend not to get easy access into these services. One of the problems with the managing these acute patients is the patient doesn't get enough time in treatment. Their admissions are often shorter, and this can be counterproductive. The patient often keeps re-appearing for admission, and this can be debilitating.

But really our aim is not just transferring Aurora material, it is actually more about transferring and adapting them to the local environment.

There are challenges in that, but I would argue that at the end of the day, the patient need is still the same in both countries. Somebody with a mental health disorder still has to try and make their way through an often very challenging environment. When you first are admitted to a mental health service, either here or in China, it's it can be very daunting. And that itself create huge anxieties and challenges for patients and can disrupt and delay treatment.

But I think the key thing that I'm seeing happen is that the model that's been developed in Mindfront is very patient-friendly. One of the key needs of any patient coming into mental health service is not the expectation that they will get good care. They need to feel they are in a safe environment. If a patient feels safe, not just with the staff, but with the environment, their recovery is going to be much quicker. You get much better outcomes. As a private business, your reputation is built on your outcomes and your service delivery. I think once this starts to develop within the Chinese market, the word will spread, and that is good for the business side. We need to be honest about this, which is about a business as well as a health care model and you have to balance. If you try and shift too much towards the care, you might compromise your business side. If you try to focus too much on the business side, you might damage your reputation. There's a good balance between both, I think that's one of the challenges is finding that balance. What I see is the Mindfront patient-centered approach which is the right approach from the start part.

 

Q: since this is your first time to get involved in a China-Australia project, as the lead of the medical team, how do you feel about participating such project, especially in regard to a cross culture communication team with team members from both China and Australia.

Patrick: I guess the biggest challenge by far is just simply the language barrier. But I'm very fortunate and there are lot of English speakers in Mindfront. I realized that when I was in Shanghai, the public transport system is absolutely fantastic, so there's no problem getting around. The social media networks are all now pretty standardized. I'm am familiar with the food, again lots of local and international choices. I realized that language was a single biggest barrier, because if you understand language, you can adapt. But what's been superb has being the translation services, and that has allowed me to communicate around the design models we need.

But what I'm also beginning to learn more about is how Chinese culture works. That's not something that's easy understood because there's been thousands of years in the development. But what I sense is a lot more skills-based and capacity within the Chinese market than people realize. And I think it's not gonna be too difficult once we start our training programs to train up professions in China, even though the qualification systems may be different and the criteria are different. The actual knowledge base and the professionalism is of a very high standard. I think there's wonderful potential on that. Mu has already mentioned some of the challenges about culture, the adaptation of programs, the concepts are different. But one of the things that Mindfront is doing very well is targeting the diagnostic groups and bringing the right patients together, which makes it easier to treat, and makes it easy to explain what the treatment intent is and what is the expected outcome.

So that would take a bit of time, but I think it will happen faster than expected. And once group programs and services get up and running, the word will spread very quickly. It's how we manage that within Mindfront is we've quicker access in some respects to the patient that we are seeking to treat. The best way to advertise your services is by word of mouth. 

 

Q: what is the expectation about the development of Mindfront in China?

Patrick: I think the expectations would be that there is developed and put in place a very high-quality mental health service that becomes internationally recognized as a high-quality service. That the service is evidence-based, and its reputation is that treatment is patient-centered, delivered in a safe environment by well-trained professionals who know how to identify and meet the patient's needs. And, that the families experience this as well not just the patient. We have to promote the outcomes to make sure that they understand what's been achieved and what's happening. So that would be the expectation and I think we're on track to achieve this.