As we work through the details of the 2022 Federal Budget this evening, the importance of psychological support is front of mind with members and communities in Queensland and New South Wales being impacted, yet again, by floods.
We’re focusing on how important this Federal Budget is to help overcome the spike in the demand for mental health support in Australia, due to the combined effects of devastating natural disasters, the impact of climate change, and the global pandemic and restrictions.
This Budget will influence our advocacy efforts and focus as the country heads into the 2022 Federal Election.
This Budget has revealed that the Government has gone some way to assisting Australians in need, but more could be done. CEO Dr Zena Burgess and I are in Canberra to ensure the APS feedback on the Budget is heard by the media, politicians and bureaucrats.
Our initial analysis
The Government has focused its mental health spending across the following pillars:
- Prevention and early intervention
- Suicide prevention
- Treatment
- Supporting our vulnerable
- Workforce and governance
Here you’ll find a snapshot of our initial analysis. We’ll build on this in the coming days.
Case conferencing items
Our ask
The APS has long argued that psychologists should be remunerated under the MBS for time spent in case conferences with GPs and other treatment providers.
Financial commitment
Tonight, the Government has committed $15.1 million over 4 years from 2022-23 to introduce a case conferencing item on the Medicare Benefits Schedule to support eligible patients to access coordinated, multidisciplinary mental health care.
This will help facilitate collaborative care between a person’s general practitioner (GP) or other medical practitioner and others involved in their mental health care, such as a paediatrician, psychiatrist, psychologist, and other allied health professionals.
This is welcome news as it brings psychologists into the picture to ensure Australians can receive multidisciplinary and collaborative care. We will wait to see what the definition of ‘eligible patient’ is to better understand the reach and impact of this item.
More to be done
Whilst the case conferencing item is a big win for Australians in need of psychological support, more needs to be done to remove red tape for patients – and we will continue to push for this, namely through:
- the removal of the requirement for a GP referral for the first three sessions for the next 12 months
- a permanent change to a 10-session review, rather than 6-session review, by the referring practitioner to alleviate pressure on patients and GPs.
We will continue to push to make the additional 10 per annum Medicare-funded psychology sessions a permanent feature of the Better Access program.
Psychology workforce
There is a critical shortage of psychologists in Australia. The Federal Government is only meeting 35% of its psychology workforce target listed in the National Mental Health Service Planning Framework, the largest shortfall of all mental health professions. This is even worse in regional areas.
Our ask
In our pre-Budget submission we called for a range of initiatives to expand the psychology workforce, including expanding supervisor training and funding the APS to arrange intensive student placements in rural and remote locations.
This Budget goes some of the way to address this.
Financial commitment
The Government is committing $60.7 million to implement the 10 Year National Mental Health Workforce Strategy to deliver a mental health workforce to meet Australia’s current and future needs.
Of the $18.3 million committed to the National Mental Health Pathways to Practice Program, $6.6 million will be spent over three years for the Psychology Stream, which will:
- provide 75 internships for provisional psychologists in a range of settings
- support the safe use of the provisional psychologist workforce to deliver services
- provide 150 free Psychology Board of Australia endorsed supervisor training sessions
- identify and address barriers to psychology registration
- set aside $917,000 for evaluation of the program.
To have Government provide a dedicated funding stream for the psychology workforce is unprecedented recognition for our profession, elevating psychology from allied health and recognising APS advocacy efforts in this area.
What this means for Australians and the sector
Our initial view is that this can lead to an increase in the number of psychologists helping Australians in need. However, this does not acknowledge the need for better funding for postgraduate level programs in psychology, and we would like to see more commitment to recognising the diversity and expertise of psychologists.
Prevention and early intervention
Getting in early matters. Around 50% of adult mental illness starts before the age of 14. But 1 in 2 children with mental illness are unable to access timely help from trained professionals, and only 1 in 3 parents use available services to help children who struggle.
Early identification and intervention, with person-centred treatments, are required to both improve the mental health of individuals and families and reduce the financial burden on the Australian economy.
Whilst tonight’s Budget recognises the need for early intervention, there is little that places psychologists at the heart of this. This is disappointing, given our longstanding call for 1 school psychologist for every 500 students.
The Government has announced the world’s first National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy focused on the mental health and wellbeing needs of children from birth through to 12 years of age. We look forward to working with Government on the details and implementation.
Perinatal mental health
Perinatal anxiety impacts 1 in 5 new mothers, with evidence to suggest 1 in 10 new fathers will experience postnatal depression. The cost to the economy of perinatal ill-health was estimated at $877 million in the 2019 by PwC.
Disappointingly, there doesn’t appear to be any new funding for perinatal mental health. The Government notes that $47.4 million over four years from 2021-22 was committed to achieve universal perinatal mental health screening, however this is not new funding for this year’s Budget.
It falls well short of our calls to introduce specific item numbers for perinatal mental health services by psychologists
Stillbirth
In our recent submission on the Response to the Consultation about the Draft Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard we highlight the need to ensure stillbirth bereavement care and support is evidence-based.
The Government has committed:
- $23 million in maternal health and bereavement support for women and families which have experienced the tragic loss of a child to stillbirth or miscarriage in line with the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan.
- Within this, $5.1 million over four years for new grants for stillbirth and miscarriage front line services to offer bereavement support for vulnerable and high-risk families.
It is positive to see this recognised in this year’s Budget.
Next steps
This is our initial analysis of what we have seen tonight. Our team will continue to look at the Budget detail and dig into about what this means for Australians and the sector.
There are other areas which we need to delve into, including:
- Suicide prevention
- Disaster response
- Aged care and disability
- Domestic violence
- Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islanders
- Digital mental health
- Veterans
We will also be looking closely at the workforce financial commitments.
I encourage you to return to our website over the coming days and weeks to access further analysis.
Fireside chat on Thursday 31 March | Come along and ask your questions
Zena and I will be running a Federal Budget special at our Fireside chat this Thursday night. I encourage you to come along and ask your questions and share your thoughts. There is a lot to consider, and we’ll cover the issues in as much detail as we can.
Secure your place
Working with government
Many of the wins that you see here tonight have come about from your efforts to keep us informed of what’s important to you in furthering the impact of our wonderful profession. We have poured those insights and energy into the advocacy work such as the pre-Budget Submission, our appearances in the media, and our meetings with government. So thank you for everything you do for us in this space.
We will be working with Government on the implementation of these financial commitments and, as always, will continue to communicate with them on what’s needed to bring the benefits of psychology to our communities.