Qld health crisis: Mandatory psychiatry training flagged for doctors

Junior doctors would be better equipped to deal with patients with mental health issues under a radical revamp of their early service.

• Fearful: Indigenous avoid hospital

Every doctor trained in Queensland would complete a mandatory placement in psychiatry within two years of graduating, under a bold plan to help junior doctors better deal with patients experiencing mental health issues.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is calling on the Queensland Government to introduce an eight- or 10-week psychiatry term in a bid to better support doctors who are already bearing the brunt of the woefully under-resourced mental health sector.

Today The Courier-Mail continues its series examining the state of Queensland’s health system, and with mental health accounting for a significant amount of all emergency department presentations and up to 70 per cent of all visits to the GP, it continues to be a major area of concern.

Patients who need to see a psychiatrist in Queensland can expect to wait between six and 12 months and the wait to see a child psychiatrist is at least 12 months.

Despite this doctors frequently report feeling underprepared to deal with mental illnesses with very little of their studies dedicated to the vital area.

The college’s Queensland branch chair Professor Brett Emmerson said mandatory training would go a long way to improving knowledge and confidence of people to be able to deal with mental health, as well as reducing the stigma of it.

The Courier-Mail understands the Department of Health has met with RANZCP to and is keen to consider the proposal.

Minister Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said her government had the biggest investment in mental health Queensland had ever seen – $1.6 billion over five years.

“Our record investment in the budget delivers the funding over five years to improve mental health, alcohol and other drug services which means more beds, dedicated services, increased crisis responses, suicide prevention initiatives and a package dedicated toward First Nations peoples,” she said.

Research undertaken in 2018 by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine found that mental health patients frequently waited longer than other patients with a similar severity of physical illness before being treated – often due to a lack of specialist mental health staff.

Professor Emmerson said the decision for mandatory postgraduate training for medicine graduates moving from one year to two years would give the time needed to introduce mandatory mental health terms.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is also creating a Diploma of Psychiatry that doctors could opt to complete, to broaden their knowledge.

The diploma would aim to help doctors assessed patients presenting with new mental health problems, manage risk in relation to patients who may harm themselves or others, start therapeutic care or prescribe appropriate medication.

Priority areas for investment over the next five years include:

– New parents and infants – $122 million

– Children, Adolescents and Young People and their families – including eating disorders – $256 million

– Services for First Nations People – $62 million

– Responding to mental health crisis and suicidality- $166M

– Adult and older persons – $534 million

– Alcohol and other drugs – treatment and harm minimisation – $147 million

– Workforce development – $37.6 million