GP mental health services continue to grow
Almost 16 million GP encounters in 2012-13 were mental health-related, accounting for just over 12 per cent of all GP encounters during the year, according to a report released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. There has been an average annual increase of 4.7 per cent in the estimated number of mental health-related GP encounters since 2008‑09.
The report indicated depression (32 per cent), anxiety (16 per cent), and sleep disturbance (12 per cent) were the 3 most frequently managed mental health-related problems. For every 100 mental health-related problems managed, GPs prescribed or recommended medication 63 times, provided counselling 47 times, and referred to a psychologist or psychiatrist 7.4 and 1.9 times respectively.
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The information was published on the AIHW's Mental health services in Australia website, which is updated regularly, and the website's annual companion publication Mental health services-in brief 2014, which provides an easily accessible summary of key mental health service and resource data from the website.