TRANSCRIPT:
In October, Sydney will host a major medical world conference.
Hosted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners , the conference will feature more than 800 presentations and workshops on the issues that GPs - including mental health.
Psychiatrist and Professor of Youth Mental Health Patrick McGorry says one issue is already apparent: mental health care.
"We are in a situation where only 50 per cent of Australians have access to mental health care when they need it. It's often delayed, and access blocked. And the quality of that mental health care is well below what we should expect in a rich first world country like Australia if we compare it to say cancer care."
One in five Australian adults experience a mental illness every year, and many rely on their local general practitioner for support.
Graeme Cowan is the founding board director of R U OK day.
"In the vast majority of cases, they're the first point that someone will speak to. And they can refer someone to a psychologist, and they can refer them for a mental health plan, which means that they get up to six sessions at a much reduced price paid for by Medicare. And the other critical role they play is being able to help someone to discuss and make sense of conflicting information."
But the process isn't always straightforward.
The R-A-C-G-P's Dr Cathy Andronis says patients can often present for one condition and then during the consultation talk about concerns they have with their mental health.
Dr Andronis says many GPs consequently struggle to provide support.
"I think that this is an issue every day for GPs, because what we know is that the rates of mental illness in our community are just skyrocketing - and the GP is one of the few people that people reliably can see and know that they can talk to. And so what we want to be able to do is rather than give people the run around and say, we can refer you here or you can go there, we want to be able to spend an extra 5, 10, 15 minutes to follow up on what's going on for that person at that moment."
The College wants the government to provide more funding for Medicare patient rebates so that doctors can spend the time they need to with a patient.
The doctor says without more support, more GPs will burn out - and patients will also feel the impact.
"If the government doesn't help support GPs to do their job better, we'll find that GP accessibility in this country will just continue to plummet. We already have a significant problem with an undersupply of GPs in many areas. Even metropolitan areas are now finding that the supply of GPs has significantly reduced. People are waiting long times to get appointments. People can't just continue to be able to provide high quality care if they're not being adequately funded to do that."
The College's call for more Medicare funding has found support with R-U- OK Day organisers.
Graeme Cowan says it's especially significant because of the strong possibility that more mental health issues will emerge in the years to come.
"I believe it will be the second pandemic. And one of the reasons for that is that young people, 15 to 25, have been particularly affected by the pandemic and the isolation. Now they're all looking at coming into the workforce and going to university and the issues that have come up don't go away straight away. So even though we're out of lock down now, these issues are insidious. They take a long time."
