News

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New subsidy for GP mental health training

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When major floods hit Queensland in 2019, causing catastrophic damage and loss in his Townsville community, Associate Professor Michael Clements, Chair of RACGP Rural, found himself facing a high burden of trauma among his patient cohort.
 
That’s when he decided to undertake the Focussed Psychological Strategies Skills Training (FPS ST).
 
‘I was a typical GP that certainly dealt with mental health as part of my normal consultations, but it wasn’t a special interest, and it wasn’t something that I wanted to pursue,’ Associate Professor Clements told newsGP.
 
‘But I had … people with varying levels of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and really just a whole lot of people dealing with long-term stress. I realised quite quickly that I needed to be better equipped to support them.’
 
The RACGP delivers its FPS Skills Training online, through its Rural Faculty, to provide GPs with essential training to become a registered provider of specific mental health care treatment strategies, including:

• cognitive behavioural therapy
• psychoeducation
• relaxation strategies.

To encourage uptake, the General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration (GPMHSC) is currently offering  a new $600 subsidy to cover part of the training cost.
 
Applications to the subsidy are open to all registered GPs and GPs in training, but is being particularly encouraged for those working in rural and remote MMM3–7 locations.
 
For Associate Professor Clements, the training has been invaluable, and something he has continued to draw on through each new crisis, but also in his general day-to-day practice.
 
‘It certainly caused me to pause and reflect on my own skills at that point and how I had been treating my mental health patients, and it gave me an opportunity to test that with other clinicians and a senior supervisor,’ he said.
 
‘So now, every time I have a patient with me, I’ve actually got a series of things in my little GP toolkit that I know I can use, and I certainly attribute that to the confidence that I’ve gained from doing additional training.’
 
To maintain registration as an FPS provider through Medicare, GPs are also required to complete at least one FPS CPD course every three years, which Associate Professor Clements says is an important part of the program’s structure.
 
‘The fact that I do need to continue to undertake targeted CPD for the skill set prompts me and nudges me in the right direction so that I can maintain these skills,’ he said.
 
In addition to being better equipped to manage and support patients who are experiencing mental health challenges, once registered as a provider, GPs may also be eligible to claim item numbers 2721, 2723, 2725 and 2727. These are consultations lasting longer than 30 minutes.
 
While this is a benefit, Associate Professor Clements said it is ‘a myth’ that the course is only suitable for GPs who plan to deliver longer consultations.
 
‘I’m one of the people, and we know of many GPs, who’ve done the full training and maintain my CPD, not because I’m doing special 30-minute mental health consults, but because I’m using the skills in everyday interactions with my patients,’ he said.
 
‘I am able to bring into each consult some short, sharp mental health interventions, and just understand the patients better, but also understand the treatment better.’
 
The training ensures GPs are equipped to give their patients access to affordable and cost-effective psychological interventions, particularly in rural and remote communities, where there is often a shortage of psychologists and psychiatrists.
 
However, Associate Professor Clements notes that in his experience, ‘the bulk of patients don’t want to see psychologists, they want to see their GP’ and that the training helps to support that demand.
 
‘So, it’s really important for doctors and GPs that are working in disaster affected areas, which is largely in our rural and remote communities, have the skills and recognise that patients will seek them out,’ Associate Professor Clements said.
 
‘That’s why I think this FPS Skills Training is so good. Not only is it now funded and supported financially so they can get the training, but if a rural GP does find themselves spending longer with the patient that’s traumatised – which we certainly do – then at least we can use these other billing items.’
 
‘I’d certainly encourage people that are considering training and considering the grant, that they don’t need to rethink how they run their clinic, they don’t need to make special counselling appointments, that actually, this is a really good and useful skill set made even more exciting at the moment by that grant.’
 
However, as it stands, if a GP bills one of the FPS item numbers, it counts as one of the 10 mental health sessions a patient is entitled to each year under the Better Access Initiative
 
In its pre-Budget submission, the RACGP has called for the decoupling of GP FPS items from the initiative. 
 
‘It’s a barrier that GPs, when they use that item number, that it takes it away from other psychological visits,’ Associate Professor Clements said.
 
There are a limited number of subsidies available, and GPs who are selected to receive one will be reimbursed $600 once they complete the requirements for FPS ST and register as a GP provider of FPS with Services Australia.
 
GPs interested in completing FPS ST can find more information on the RACGP website, or contact the RACGP at rural@racgp.org.au or on 1800 636 764.
 
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Focussed Psychological Strategies FPS GP training psychological interventions remote rural subsidy

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