Psychologist visits more than doubled and GP visits for mental health rose 53%, but questions remain about whether we’re on the right track.
Australians are getting help for mental health worries more – especially younger, single, women with more severe concerns.
But some argue little improvement has been made for the people who really need it, despite significant funding in the sector.
Findings from the 2020–2022 National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing show that the number of psychology visits had jumped 123% since 2007.
It also showed visits to non-medical mental health professionals rose 63% and visits to GPs rose 53%.
“A key finding was that, in 2020–2022, 47% of people with 12-month disorders had consulted a health professional for mental health or had an overnight admission for mental health problems in the past year, with a gradient according to severity of disorder (mild 23%, moderate 48% and severe 69%),” the authors wrote.
“This represents a meaningful overall increase from 38% in 2007 but falls short of the targets based on ‘desirable’ service demand proposed in the National Mental Health Service Planning Framework: overall 67%, mild 50%, moderate 80% and severe 100%”
It was particularly concerning that consultations didn’t grow for people with severe disorders, they wrote.
“While some differentials in consulting appear to have decreased over time (namely, use of psychologists by people in outer regional/remote areas, and use of GPs by younger adults), others increased (namely, use of psychologists by people without 12-month disorders and people in the least disadvantaged areas),” the authors wrote.
“Efforts remain needed to encourage people with lower levels of need to use low-intensity services when appropriate and to ensure that people with higher levels of need have access to necessary specialist clinical care and supports.”
Attention was needed on the persistent lower uptake in people with substance use disorders alone, older Australians and males, they added.
But the study might be asking the wrong question, Associate Professor Sebastian Rosenberg, lead of mental health policy at the University of Sydney, told TMR.
“It’s not so much a matter of how much public access has increased since 2007, but how much has it increased since 2013,” he said, pointing to a study that year in the Australian Health Review on mental health services after the introduction of the Better Access scheme.
“The 2013 paper showed 46% [of people with mental health disorders had a consultation], this paper shows about the same – 47%,” Professor Rosenberg said.
“So, in some respects, it is possible to say that in the subsequent decade – being 2014 to 2025 – Better Access has made no difference at all to the overall rate of access to care.”
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He said this was a “critical message” and question arising from the recent paper.
Professor Rosenberg said that while the Better Access scheme was designed for people with mild-to-moderate severity conditions, data suggested that many people using it were “repeat customers”.
“Ten years ago, the number of new clients into the Better Access program was already only 35% now, according to the most recent data published by the report on government services (ROGS report) by the Productivity Commission, it’s 25.8%” he said.
“Are they getting better, or are they stuck in a in a repeat cycle of getting their allotted number of sessions each year?
“The fact that there are such a high proportion of repeat customers into this programme, is evidence to me that that people may not be getting better, and that the needs of people as they enter this programme in an unintended way are more severe than was originally envisaged.”
Professor Rosenberg pointed to the 2023-24 federal expenditure of around $1.5 billion into Medicare mental health services, “which is just a fraction under $29 million a week”.
“The question really is, is that actually appropriately targeted?” he asked.
The authors of this recent study noted variability in access to mental health services.
Consults with a health professional were more common among those under age 65 years, women, unmarried people, those with more severe disorders and people with affective or anxiety disorders.
There were also socioeconomic and geographical differences.
Lower income patients were more likely to visit a psychiatrist, whereas people who had a high income and lived in a major city were more likely to see a psychologist. People in more advantaged areas were more likely to see a GP.
A lot of the growth was driven by the age 16-45 years age group, rather than those older, the authors said.
