Coronavirus: Mental health crisis bill is $114bn

The mental health bill for the nation­ due to COVID-19 lockdowns and unemployment could be as high as $114bn in lost prod­uctivity, says a report.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on Tuesday. Picture: David Crosling

The mental health bill for the nation­ due to COVID-19 lockdowns and unemployment could be as high as $114bn in lost prod­uctivity over the next five years, warns a report by Australia’s leading mental health modellers.

A submission by the University of Sydney to the government comes as a group of Melbourne general practitioners have pleaded with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to review the curfew and restrictions after reporting up to fivefold increases in mental healthcare cases daily, including young teenagers at risk of suicide.

High-level modelling revealed to The Australian and conducted by the university’s Brain and Mind Centre forecasts a major economic impact from the pandemic and a tsunami of emergency department presentations.

The report, by one of the country’s leading psychiatrists and mental health experts, Ian Hickie, calls for an “urgent” $2.2bn boost to community-based mental health services to address a “defic­it” of mental health services that risks directing an extra 23,000 people to hospital emergency departments seeking help.

“Over the next five years, the additional cost to the Australian economy from those suffering from heightened psychological distress who remain employed but at reduced productivity is estim­ated at $114bn,” it says.

“This is due mainly to absent­eeism and presenteeism, including $11.3bn (9.9 per cent) attributable to psychological distress among 15-24-year-olds.

“The additional healthcare expenditure associated with the consequences of this increased distress over the next five years is projected to be $874m.”

The acute mental health crisis in Victoria following months of stage-four lockdowns has become so great that 12 Melbourne GPs have written to Mr Andrews seeking an urgent review of the social restrictions.

Mobile users click here to see the full letter.

Stacey Harris, a GP in a clinic in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, wrote the letter, co-signed by the other suburban GPs, claiming she was now treating up to 20 cases a day of people seeking mental health care.

“I have never in my 15 years of general practice seen such devastation with patients’ mental health,” Dr Harris said. “I see approxim­ately 180-200 patients per week and it is disturbing what effect the lockdown is causing. I am doing 15-20 mental health care consultations daily, in comparison to 3-5 this time last year.’’

Australian Psychological Soc­i­ety chief executive Zena Burgess said the scale and impact of the COVID-19 restrictions was “far beyond what anyone expected”.

“The mental health impacts will be the long-lasting, tragic legacy­ of this pandemic, and could go on for months and even years,” Dr Burgess said.

“For people in Victoria who have been living under severe, ongoing­ restrictions for the better part of the year, the mental health impacts are, and will continue to be, profound.”

Professor Hickie’s report, based on mathematical modelling, says a more strategic approach to mental health policy is “vital”. “Increasing demand for services through mental health awareness campaigns and the Better Access initiative without boosting the supply of community-based specialised services is likely to be harmful and costly, leading to huge waiting lists, a 22 per cent increase in patients dropping out of care, and reduces economic productivity by $605m from increased distress,’’ it says.

“There is an opportunity to modernise the delivery of patient-centred services through investing in technology-enabled co-ordination of team-based care.

“This is projected to reduce healthcare costs by $226m, improve­ mental health outcomes, and increases economic productivity by $1.3bn.”

The report also calls for the JobKeeper payment to be retaine­d for two years, and for financial­ support for unemployed students, boosting enrolments by 20 per cent to address “unnecessary” further “distress-related productivity losses” of $3.2bn.

“To manage our way through COVID-19 and the recession, a whole-of-government approach is needed,’’ it says. “Budgetary decisions­ taken in October 2020 need to be cognisant of the consequences of the current crisis on mental distress and avoid un­intended, costly, consequences.

“Investing in mental health creates wealth … to not invest appropriately­ will likely cost lives and economic potential.”