NEW England is in “critical” need of psychiatric help as the maldistribution of specialists hits regional NSW.
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Political hopefuls in “high-need” electorates have been lobbied by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) to address the mental health workforce disparity.
New England was targeted, as were two other regional NSW seats – Farrer and Eden-Monaro – with a significant shortfall making early intervention hard, according to the college’s president, Professor Mal Hopwood.
From the data available, there are nine psychiatrists in New England, which was a generous estimate, according to Professor Hopwood.
“The international standard suggests there should be one per 10,000 people,” he said.
“There should be 15 in New England.”
While metropolitan areas largely meet the quota, Professor Hopwood said maldistribution was letting regional, rural and remote areas down.
With an ageing and foreign-trained workforce in the bush, Professor Hopwood said succession and retirement issues were also going to play out in the regions.
“Attracting psychiatrists is not a one-off task. There needs to be ongoing systems of support embedding people in communities for the long term,” he said.
“It’s well and good to get someone in tomorrow, but if they leave the next day, there’s still the same problem.”
New England, Farrer and Eden-Monaro cover a vast combined area, but Professor Hopwood said it wasn’t an excuse.
“That represents a large population,” he said.
“With a limited number of practitioners, they focus on crisis situations, which means early intervention won’t be possible.”
Calling for an election commitment, Professor Hopwood said support for the current workforce, reducing isolation and increasing the number of trainees with a rural background were the key areas of attention.
Professor Hopwood said a “viable broadband network” would be useful for “tele-psychiatry”, but said it should only be an adjunct and not a replacement.
The federal government has said it would direct $360 million to primary health networks for mental health services, but Professor Hopwood said GPs would still require specialist support.