Yorke Peninsula Country Times - Kadina
The federal government's decision to cut the number of consultations per patient under the Better Access for Mental Health program could open up appointments for more people, but will do nothing to ease the mental health workforce shortage in country areas.
That is the response from Rural Doctors' Association of South Australia president Dr Peter Rischbieth to the decision to reduce the number of subsidised consultations available under the program from 20 per person to 10. Better Access for Mental Health funds services are provided by GPs, psychiatrists and psychologists.
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler recently announced the program's first comprehensive review in more than 10 years. It originally provided for 10 visits per person but increased to 20 at the height of Covid lockdowns, with the funding ending at the end of 2022.
The review found all the additional services went to existing patients, and the number of new patients able to access services declined by seven per cent. It was also revealed the extra 10 consultations aggravated existing waitlists and barriers to access, particularly for country people and those on lower incomes.
Dr Rischbieth said 20 visits per person seems a lot when some people could not access any visits at all. "A cut in the number of visits might open up the program for newer patients," he said. The introduction of telehealth consultations with mental health service providers had helped to ease the shortages of services in country areas but was not the be all and end all to solve the problem, Dr Rischbieth said. "As we know, mental health problems are more common in rural areas, partly because of isolation and there is higher per capita consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs," he said. "It's all about increasing and retaining the workforce, including nurses, midwives, GPs, psychologists and other health care professionals."
Dr Rischbieth said the Higher Education Loan Program debt reduction scheme for rural doctors and nurse practitioners should be expanded to include psychologists. Under HELP, doctors and nurse practitioners can eliminate all or part of their student debt if they work in rural and remote areas. Southern Yorke Peninsula is classified as remote while the remainder of YP is classified as small rural towns.
Minlaton-based psychologist Sally Emery has provided bulkbilled mental health services on YP for the past 17 years but is winding up her local practice. She agreed the HELP scheme should be extended to psychologists and said there was scope for psychologists to be affiliated with regional general practices to help overcome professional isolation.
Australian Psychological Society APS president Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe said the federal government was meeting only 35 per cent of its psychology workforce target. "Demand for services continues to break records, with one in three psychologists unable to take on new patients," she said. "Before the (Covid) pandemic only one in 100 of us had closed books."