A Unified System for Psychiatrists and GPs

Context: Recognising the need for better access to psychiatric expertise, the Federal Government, through Medicare and the Department of Health and Aging (DoHA) has provided new Item Numbers for psychiatrists and better access to allied health practitioners. In South Australia, a centralized scheme has developed which provides access to psychiatrists for one-off assessments through a single point of entry scheme for GPs. 30 + Adelaide private psychiatrists provide appointments.

Objectives: To present data from the SA experience of a service which coordinates appointments for patients on referral from GPs to private psychiatrists for one-off assessments, and to explore its strengths, limitations and potential pathways for expansion.

Key messages:

• GPs rate the scheme extremely highly

• Psychiatrists are very willing to work in this way and one-off appointments (Item 291) occur within 2 weeks, providing an excellent service

• Consumer and carer viewpoints are still unknown but research is proposed to evaluate this

Conclusions:

• One-off appointments are growing in use particularly in SA where a single point-of-entry scheme exists

• The scheme provides a valuable community service to patients and GPs as it provides ease of access and speed of appointments, thus providing expert valued management plans

• Psychiatrists enjoy the variety of patients, contact with new referring GPs and a new style of working

• The scheme could be usefully widened to include allied health practitioners