A move to slash Medicare-subsidised psychologist appointments has been widely condemned in Tasmania, with Premier Jeremy Rockliff demanding the federal government walk back its decision.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Monday that the number of rebated psychology sessions an individual could access would be halved as of January 1 next year.
That’s despite the fact a University of Melbourne report into the Better Access scheme, commissioned by the government, recommended that the supported sessions be retained and targeted at people with complex mental health needs.
It comes after the previous government doubled the appointments in 2020 during the early days of the Covid pandemic.
“The evaluation found that all of the additional services went to existing patients and that the number of new patients who were able to get into the system and get access to psychology services actually declined by seven per cent,” Mr Butler said on Monday.
Mr Rockliff, who is also the state’s Health Minister, has criticised the decision, saying he was “deeply concerned about the cutbacks”.
“My message to the federal government is now is not the time to cut services when it comes to mental health,” he said ahead of a meeting of the nation’s health ministers on Wednesday.
“Because beyond those 10 appointments, the people that require those services have to pay for them for themselves. So this is about not only access to support but also the affordability of access to mental health support, as well.”
A January survey of more than 1400 psychologists, conducted by the Australian Psychological Society (APS), found that 86.2 per cent of Tasmanian psychologists had waiting lists – more than any other jurisdiction in the country.
The national average was 75.1 per cent.
It also found that the average wait time was 60.6 days compared to the national average of 52.5.
Thirty-five per cent of Tasmanian psychologists were unable to take on new patients.
The “fundamental issue” causing increased wait times was “soaring demand for services and a lack of psychologists to provide them”, according to APS president Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe.
“Choosing to cut a program which provided more than one million additional subsidised mental health sessions to the community in the last financial year and replace it with nothing isn’t the solution people need in a crisis,” she said.
Labor MLC Sarah Lovell said she was “disappointed that Tasmanians are going to be left in a position where they are again relying on an underfunded, under-resourced mental health system here in Tasmania”.