The GP college recommends going back to the drawing board when it comes to envisioning GPs’ place in plans for new medium- to high-intensity youth mental health services.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has come up with a plan to address the mental healthcare needs of Australia’s “missing middle”, but the RACGP says it’s missing one key ingredient: general practice.
Designs for Headspace Plus and Youth Specialist Care Centres have been in the works since the 2025 federal election, backed by a promised investment of $700 million over four years.
The 30 Headspace Plus clinics will offer the same low-to-moderate intensity model of care as regular Headspace clinics, but with increased capacity for high-intensity care, including access to a greater range of holistic and specialised supports.
These will be built on the existing Headspace network, meaning there will be no entirely new clinics opened.
The network of 20 Youth Specialist Care Centres (YSCCs), meanwhile, will be entirely new and will focus on delivering high intensity care only.
It will accept patients with “severe or emerging mental health conditions who have high complexity needs that exceed primary mental health services but who do not require state-funded acute and specialist tertiary mental health care”.
This could look like specialist multidisciplinary support for psychosis, eating disorders, personality disorders, and severe mood or anxiety disorders.
Both the Headspace Plus and the YSCCs will treat patients between 12 and 25 years of age; at 39%, this cohort represents the highest prevalence of mental disorders among any age group.
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The RACGP submission to the draft models of care consultation, which it published this week, “acknowledges” the aim of the new services to strengthen referral pathways for young people with complex mental health needs.
“A central issue across both models is the need for stronger integration with existing services, particularly general practice, and the risk of fragmentation where services operate separately from a young person’s usual care,” the submission reads.
“Where coordination is limited or roles are unclear, there is a risk of gaps in care, duplication and reduced continuity.”
By the RACGP’s calculation, general practice is where the majority of mental healthcare in Australia is provided.
Because GPs are involved in early identification of emerging mental health issues, as well as assessment, management, referral and coordination of care, the RACGP said, it is “critical” for general practice to be integrated into new models of care.
While the college’s comments in relation to Headspace Plus were brief, it did call for more detail on how GPs will be kept informed on their patients’ progress.
It raised more red flags around the proposed YSCC model, starting with the “breadth and complexity” of the target population, which it said created a risk that services may become saturated.
“Clinical governance is described as psychiatry led,” the college said.
“This does not fully reflect the breadth of clinical needs within this cohort.
“Young people with complex needs will experience physical health issues and comorbid conditions alongside mental health concerns. Inclusion of general practice input in clinical governance would support oversight of these aspects of care.”
Notably, the college also questioned how services would work with families when young people were not engaged or were refusing care.
“In these situations, families may be seeking support or expressing concern about their child’s safety or behaviour, including where underage young people refuse care,” the RACGP submission said.
“There is limited detail on how services will respond to families in these circumstances, including who will engage with and support parents.”
Final versions of the Headspace Plus and YSCC models of care are expected to be finalised by mid-2026.
