This week we released a submission outlining why the current workforce crisis is negatively impacting patient care and must be addressed.
Our submission to the National Suicide Prevention Office's draft Advice on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy , says Australia is currently facing severe workforce shortages in our mental health system.
In psychiatry we have just under 4,300 psychiatrists working in Australia - which is nowhere near enough. Psychiatrists are also unevenly distributed across the country, with close to 80 per cent of the workforce in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Our submission welcomes the federal government's recent investment in additional post-graduate psychology places and funding to increase the availability of psychology internship places and supervisor training. But it notes there is more to be done - particularly in relation to greater support for general practice and the need to tackle the persistent workforce shortages in psychiatry.
The burden on GPs in managing the caseload of patients has increased and governments need to give GPs greater support to help them in this front line role. We are urging the government to invest in the psychiatry workforce and in measures to support well-designed, medically governed multi-disciplinary teams.
The submission also calls for improved data collection to better inform suicide prevention policies, saying data collection continues to be piecemeal across the country, and for improved coordination across federal departments and between jurisdictions.
