MLHD announced on Wednesday a budget over-run of close to $8 million at its annual public meeting, but Mrs Ludford said she was confident the health district was "already on top of it".

Running health services more efficiently was the key to reining in expenditure, she said, and would also lead to improved patient care at the same time as fixing the bottom line.

"(The goal is) to reduce those inefficiencies but it's actually focusing on better care for people," she said.

"We're continuing all of our services and we can put in new models of care so we can deliver those services more efficiently."

After requiring a significant number of roles to be filled by locums over the past few years, Mrs Ludford said MLHD had reduced that reliance significantly, further aiding its budget situation.

"This year we've only got 40 vacancies in nursing and that includes maternity leave," she said.

"We've managed to do that by growing our own staff and we've employed new graduates out of uni and nurse educators."

Next year, a further 60 graduate nurses will be employed by the health district.

NSW Mental Health Deputy Commissioner Fay Jackson addressed Wednesday's meeting to talk about the new NSW Mental Health Strategic Plan.

The new model for mental health care is focused on people, she said, rather on abstract policies.

"So long as we get it right for people, then the policies and protocols will be the right policies and protocols," Ms Jackson said.

"It's about putting people at the forefront of what they need."