VICTORIA - The government prepared an adequate five-year child and youth mental health plan in 2003 and is satisfactorily managing the plan's implementation, all in an effort to improve child and youth mental health outcomes, according to Acting Auditor General Errol Price.

But, in a report released today, Price says there is still room for some improvement as the plan enters the final year of implementation. The report highlights the work done by his office in an audit of the development and management of the province's first child and youth mental health plan.

According to Price, "The government, through the Ministry of Children and Family Development, has developed an adequate plan to help improve patient mental health outcomes and is satisfactorily putting the plan into effect." He said that his staff found that the key changes include:

- a substantial increase in the number of clinicians to improve service access;
- implementation of evidence-based treatments to improve the quality and consistency of services;
- programs to reduce the risk of, and mitigate the effects of, mental disorders, and
- new efforts to improve the capacities of families and communities to prevent or overcome the harmful impact of mental disorders in children and youth.

The report includes several recommendations that would further improve the plan's implementation. Price urges the ministry, in the midst of organizational changes, to maintain adequate accountability mechanisms between the regions and the provincial office and to ensure that there continues to be strong leadership for child and youth mental health services. The ministry also needs to begin formulating strategies that build on the gains made through the plan and to report publicly on the plan's implementation.