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Mental health system a 'nightmare' for vulnerable Australians and needs urgent fixes, AMA warns

By the Specialist Reporting Team's Paige Cockburn
Man sits with his head in his hands.

The Australian Medical Association has issued a serious warning about the state of the nation’s mental health system. (Unsplash: Jonathan Rados)

In short:

The AMA says chronic underfunding and increasingly complex patient presentations have pushed the country's mental health system to crisis point.

It said those most disadvantaged were people who have experienced child abuse, homelessness and violence.

What's next?

The country's health ministers are meeting in Hobart to discuss issues of national importance, with a focus on hospital funding.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has issued a serious warning about the state of the nation's mental health system, claiming it's failing those who need it the most.

The AMA's plea for action comes as the country's health ministers meet in Hobart to discuss issues of national importance, with a focus on hospital funding.

The AMA said chronic underfunding and increasingly complex patient presentations made it a "nightmare" for people to get help, pushing the system to crisis point.

It said those most disadvantaged were people who have experienced child abuse, homelessness and violence.

"We owe it to our patients and society to get this right," AMA president Danielle McMullen said.

"We need all governments to work collaboratively to improve the function, size and distribution of Australia's mental healthcare workforce to ensure care is available for some of the most vulnerable members of our society."

To address the shortage of psychiatrists, particularly those focusing on children and teens, the AMA said "novel solutions" were needed. One suggestion was to have GPs take on a bigger role when treating complex conditions.

"GPs should be able to seek advice from psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians, or other medical specialists … to initiate therapy [and] … specialists must be remunerated for providing guidance to GPs," the AMA's position statement read.

The peak body for doctors said the number and quality of mental health beds in public hospitals also needed urgent attention as backlogs were leading to poor health outcomes.

"It is never appropriate for patients presenting with mental health conditions to spend a prolonged amount of time in hospital emergency departments," it stated.

To break the cycle of patients repeatedly ending up in hospital the AMA said there needed to be increased Medicare rebates for longer GP consults and appointments with psychiatrists.

Other changes the AMA recommended include:

  • The embedding of mental health nurses and social workers in GP and psychiatry clinics
  • More GPs and psychiatrists in rural, regional, and remote communities
  • A mechanism for doctors to authorise additional subsidised sessions with a psychologist when a patient has severe mental health issues

The latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed two in five Australians were estimated to experience a mental disorder at some point in their life, with anxiety disorders the most common.

Around 800,000 Australians are estimated to have a severe mental illness.

A man wearing a suit and tie, smiling.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said his main priorities were general practice and mental health.  (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)

On Thursday, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC Hobart his main priorities in the lead up to next year's election were general practice and mental health.

In this year's budget the government allocated more than $586 million for mental health and suicide prevention.

Part of this package was the funding of 500 internships for provisional psychologists and broader mental health upskilling for undergraduate nurses, midwives and allied health students.

Last year, the government decided not to keep offering the extra 10 subsidised psychology sessions that were introduced during the pandemic by the Morrison government.

Mr Butler said data showed the extra sessions were not being accessed by those in the regions so the number of available sessions dropped back to 10 per year.

The ABC has approached Mr Butler for comment about the AMA's demands.