[Everything is on the map: Integrated Mental Health Atlases as support tools for service planning. SESPAS Report 2020].

OBJECTIVE

This article reviews the usability of the Integrated Atlases of Mental Health as a decision support tool for service planning following a health ecosystem research approach.

METHOD

This study describes the types of atlases and the procedure for their development. Atlases carried out in Spain are presented and their impact in mental health service planning is assessed. Atlases comprise information on the local characteristics of the health care system, geographical availability of resources collected with the DESDE-LTC instrument and their use. Atlases use geographic information systems and other visualisation tools. Atlases follow a bottom-up collaborative approach involving decision-makers from planning agencies for their development and external validation.

RESULTS

Since 2005, Integrated Atlases of Mental Health have been developed for nine regions in Spain comprising over 65% of the Spanish inhabitants. The impact on service planning has been unequal for the different regions. Catalonia, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, and Andalusia reach the highest impact. In these areas, health advisors have been actively involved in their co-design and implementation in service planning.

CONCLUSIONS

Atlases allow detecting care gaps and duplications in care provision; monitoring changes of the system over time, and carrying out national and international comparisons, efficiency modelling and benchmarking. The knowledge provided by atlases could be incorporated to decision support systems in order to support an efficient mental health service planning based on evidence-informed policy.