The Australian Government has published its response to the final report of an independent evaluation of the Better Access initiative.
The Government has fully endorsed seven out of the 16 recommendations provided by the independent evaluation, given ‘in principle’ support to two others, all of which are either in progress or have been completed already, and noted six of the recommendations for further consideration.
The recommendation to re-introduce 20 psychology sessions as part of the Better Access initiative has been rejected.
The APS is deeply disappointed by this and will continue to advocate, in line with the advice of the independent BA review, that reinstating 20 Medicare-subsided sessions for more complex mental health conditions would have a significant positive impact for people who need psychological care.
The community has told us it wants more investment in psychology services. Patient demand for psychology services remains high, but people increasingly cannot afford treatment due to cost of living pressures and slow progress in mental health system reform.
The Federal Government has a responsibility to address this issue to ensure a nationally consistent and equitable mental health system that promotes access and affordability for all Australians, and this includes the Better Access program.
The initiatives announced by the Federal Government in this year’s Federal Budget were slated as helping to enable psychologists to work to the top of scope, seeing high needs and complex cases. We know that 10 sessions are not enough to provide effective treatment to these patients, and that by providing 20 sessions we can ensure effective treatment.
The Government’s response to this report is another missed opportunity to enhance the mental wellbeing of all Australians, despite the APS and Australian people repeatedly raising the red flag about these issues.
The APS position remains that greater investment and focus on the psychology workforce and psychological services is required and we will continue to advocate to the Federal Government.
The APS will continue to advocate for:
- Reinstating 20 Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions for people at-risk of or experiencing complex mental health issues
- Scaling up investment in postgraduate psychology programs in universities and institutes
- Investment in overseas trained psychologists
- Paid placements for psychology under the Commonwealth Prac Payment
- Replicating GP regional relocation incentives for psychologists to make psychology services more accessible in rural and remote areas
- Increasing and indexing the current Medicare rebate to make psychology services more affordable
- Reducing the out-of-pocket expenses for 14 to 25-year-old through a new Medicare Safety Net threshold of $0 applying to these services, and
- Getting a 1:500 psychologist to student ratio in primary and secondary schools.
The Government’s response can be found on the Department of Health website.