acute mental ill-health.” He highlighted how mental health admissions are growing in the hospitals. He said, “We know that mental health admissions to hospitals are the fastest growing of any hospital admission, increasing at an average rate of 4.8 percent each year from 2013-14 and the five following years, so that’s a total growth of 26.4 percent over five years from 2013, accounting for an extra 6,073 admissions each year or a total of 30,366 for that period.”
Dr. Khorshid spoke about the immediate need of mental health experts in the country. He said, “People with mental health conditions are also staying longer in hospital—up to twice as long as people with heart conditions, for example, according to data from AIHW.” He added, “Australia also has a serious shortage of child and adolescent child psychiatrists and we need a serious commitment to grow this cohort of the mental health workforce to support early detection.”
Dr. Khorshid spoke about the support and investment needed for the mental health sector. He said, “The May budget allocated $11 million for 30 new psychiatry training places and while this is welcome, it is woefully inadequate in the face of current and future needs. We’d need at least 260 by the year 2025. And we need to understand there is very high demand for mental health services in regional and rural areas and getting the workforce into these places requires urgent attention”.
Dr. Danielle McMullen, AMA NSW President, emphasized that perfect mental health care is patient-oriented, and that General Practice plays an important role in responding to and organizing treatment and care for those suffering from mental illness. He said, “GPs are frequently the first point of contact on someone’s mental health journey and they need to be resourced to provide appropriate care and treatment pathways.”
Dr. McMullen spoke about the importance of mental health. He said, “We know investment in well-designed, medically governed health teams result in better health outcomes and General Practice can oversee stronger coordination of things like older persons’ mental health, mental health nurses, psychologists, pediatricians, counselors and drug, alcohol and gambling support. These supports are all key aspects of a patient-centered mental health system”.
