Australia’s mental health crisis a ‘sad, sad situation’

‘We keep sticking on Band-Aids when we need major reconstruction of our health system’.
 
That is according to Dr Cathy Andronis, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Psychological Medicine, after the college’s 2024 Health of the Nation report revealed 71% of GPs say mental health is in their top reasons for patient consults.
 
The early findings, released on Thursday, found that, instead of improving, those rates remain steady with last year’s report, and are up from 61% when the survey started in 2017. 
 
Dr Cathy Andronis told newsGP that the current cost-of-living crisis is contributing significantly both to stress and reduced affordability of GP services.
 
‘Many people have given up on accessing supports from our health system – this is a sad, sad situation,’ she said.
 
‘Patients are definitely delaying treatments and because we live in a culture that often blames the individual for their mental distress and ignores the social determinants that cause or exacerbate stress, we have a large population who now blames themselves for their distress.
 
‘This learned helplessness breeds hopelessness – our culture is broken.’
 
With the release of the alarming findings, the RACGP is now calling on the Federal Government to take action, as more Australians are delaying mental health care due to cost.
 
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed that around 20% of Australians delayed seeing a mental health professional due to costs last year.

Dr Andronis said GPs desperately need more support, especially from governments who ‘control so many of the financial levers’.
 
‘Rebates for longer and prevention-focused consultations are poor and the undersupply of GPs in many areas exacerbates this problem,’ she said.
 
‘This also is sad as we are not doing what works best according to evidence, instead of looking for short cuts that just exacerbate issues in the longer term.’
 
Dr Andronis said that GPs not only need more time and better rebates to provide quality mental health care, but also more education, including clinical supervision groups that ‘support us to support patients’.
 
The RACGP is advocating for a 20% increase in patients’ Medicare rebates for GP mental health visits, as well as longer consults to cover the cost of providing this care.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said GPs remain ‘extremely concerned’ about their patients delaying mental health care due to costs.
 
‘GPs from across Australia have told us they’re seeing more patients with multiple, complex health issues including mental health, and many can’t afford to see specialists or allied health professionals privately,’ she said.
 
‘The Government needs to do more to ensure all Australians can access affordable mental health care.
 
‘It’s time for Labor to get serious about rebuilding Medicare and providing affordable general practice care … with the current cost-of-living crisis, this is more important than ever.’
 
The full 2024 Health of the Nation report will be released in October.
 
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