Mental health presentations to GPs surge, Myhealth says

GPs are seeing a sharp increase in the number of patients with mental health problems and it’s beginning to take its toll on doctors.

Dr Mohammed Hasan. Picture: Matthew Vasilescu/AAP

GPs are seeing a sharp increase in the number of patients with mental health problems and it’s beginning to take its toll on doctors.

Dr Mohammed Hasan, Myhealth’s chief medical officer and practising GP, said mental health presentations have skyrocketed in the past four years.

“Anecdotally, we have seen about a 50 per cent increase in the number of patients presenting to us with anxiety or mental health challenges,” he said.

“Before Covid, about one in five patients would have a challenge.

“Now it’s more like one in three.”

The sharp rise in mental health concerns has been overwhelming for GPs, many of whom are needing more time off work to deal with burnout.

“Yes, we are trained to look after psychological health, but it is taxing,” Dr Hasan said.

“It leads to compassion fatigue.

“The more you see and then you sort of reach your tipping point where you’re like, ‘I need to take leave’.”

Medibank, which holds a 90 per cent share in Myhealth, has called for an urgent shake-up of

the medical system to address Australia’s worsening mental health crisis.

Andrew Wilson, psychiatrist and Medibank’s group chief medical officer, said the current way of treating patients was fragmented.

“When we look at people that have got mental health problems and mental disorders, we know that the best approach is what we’d call a biopsychosocial approach that looks at biological or medical factors, psychological factors, and then social and environmental factors,” he said.

“It’s just not realistic to think that one health professional or support person can deal with all of those issues.

“So we know that when we look at a multidisciplinary team, so that’s GPs, psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, and probably some specialist support from psychiatrists like me, we’re going to get the best outcome from the patient because we are going to be able to address all of those components.”

The Albanese Government made an election promise to pour $1bn of funding into mental health support.

Dr Wilson said the funding must be co-ordinated under a multidisciplinary approach.

“We know that the mental health of our community is going backwards,” he said.

“The prevalence of mental disorders in young people is increasing.

“This is potentially an emerging crisis for our country and we need to do something about it, and the way to deal with this at an early intervention and prevention space is using our primary care system, using our GPs and their clinics to actually be the fulcrum from which we improve mental health.”

Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, helping Australian families better tackle mental wellbeing. To follow the series and access all stories, tips and advice, visit our new Health section.

Originally published as Mental health presentations to GPs surge, Myhealth says