The Australian
Psychologists say patients are unable to access their help because of rising costs, with shortening waitlists triggering concern that people are simply unable to afford the psychological care they need.
Ahead of a milestone meeting this week of health ministers and mental health minister from across the country – prompted by the Bondi Junction killings in Sydney’s east in April – a survey by the Australian Psychological Society found more than 40 per cent of psychologists reported cost as the main barrier for patient access.
A further 55 per cent said their waitlists had shortened in a turnaround of trends during Covid-19 that saw one-third of psychologists close their books to new patients.
APS president Catriona Davis-McCabe said psychologists were reporting their shortening waitlists were the result of “patients simply not accessing their services … Patients are currently faced with putting food on the table and paying rent rather than dealing with their mental health.”
“People really aren’t getting treated and I think really, this is such a false economy,” Dr Davis-McCabe said.
“Because people are going to turn up for the GPs, they’re going to turn up to the emergency departments, we’re going to have first responders dealing with emergencies and it’s going to cost the taxpayers more than what it would if we invested now properly so people could access a full dose of proper treatment all the way to the end.
“It’s just so frustrating.”
The concern that patients are failing to seek psychological care follows the government last year halving psychological subsidies – which were boosted during the pandemic – from covering 20 to 10 sessions.
“Psychologists are increasingly concerned and worried about their patients … and it’s a real ethical dilemma for a psychologist to take a patient on when they know they can only attend 10 sessions, and they know that they need 20,” Dr Davis-McCabe said.
Cost-of-living increases over the past 12 months have hit working families the hardest, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data released earlier this month that showed employee cost of living rose by 6.2 per cent in the year to June 2024, above the 3.8 per cent rate of inflation.
In findings from the ABS last year, the number of socio-economically disadvantaged Australians citing cost as the reason for delaying or avoiding psychological services rose by 40 per cent.
Cost-of-living concerns will remain a significant problem for households for the rest of the year, with the Reserve Bank of Australia revealing it did not expect a rate cut for another six months.
Dr Davis-McCabe said the government needed to urgently intervene to stop the mental health crisis from worsening, and called on a “substantial increase” to Medicare-subsidised sessions and the removal of out-of-pocket expenses for 14 to 25-year-old people through a new “Medicare Safety Net threshold” of $0 applying to these services.
“People need more than 10 sessions, and this is particularly for people who are at risk or really just experiencing quite complex mental health issues, which we’re seeing day in, day out,” she said.
“The other thing is, we need to invest in young people, and it’s really important to invest in prevention and early intervention … If we can get in and support a young person at that age, it doesn’t have to go down the track of poor mental health.”
The APS call for immediate investment in mental health – which currently takes up about 7 per cent of total health spending – follows other peak bodies such as Mental Health Australia demanding the government invest billions of dollars to set up an entirely new system of supports for mental health.
Both organisations also urged for a robust plan from the government in how to address challenges in the mental health workforce, which is facing shortfalls of more than 30 per cent.
The meeting of mental health and health ministers on Fridays is the first of its kind for several years.