Australian Doctor Australian Doctor 7th September 2018 | Page 14

Gut Feelings
7 SEPTEMBER 2018 australiandoctor.com.au
Have your say
Australian Doctor team
Editor-in-chief:
Jo Hartley [phone]
We need
to work in
tandem
Editor:
Paul Smith [phone]
Medical co-editors:
Dr Kate Kelso BMed FRACGP
[phone]
Dr Paul Muthiah MUDr FRACGP
[phone]
How to Treat editor:
Dr Claire Berman MBBCh
[phone]
Psychologists want authority to
claim GP mental health care plan
items, 22 August, online
As a psychologist, I’d be more than happy
for GPs to continue being the gatekeepers by
writing mental health care plans.
The problems arise with the need for
a review after four, five or six sessions,
depending on what has been written on the
referral.
You send off the report to the GP, tell the
client they need to get back to their GP for
a new referral, and half the time they turn
up for the next session saying, ‘I forgot’ or
some other excuse.
Say the client is a disability pensioner
who has travelled an hour by public trans-
port to see me, or a severely depressed per-
son expressing suicidal ideation.
I am then supposed to say: “Sorry, I
can’t see you.”
We need a simpler system.
As for the number of sessions — 10
is plenty for most people I see, but for
some clients it is simply not enough,
such as childhood sexual abuse survi-
vors, and cases of severe PTSD and severe
depression.
I work in a disadvantaged area and bulk-
bill students, the unemployed and pension-
ers (about 70% of my clients). The limit is
fine for people who can afford to keep com-
ing. It’s not so great for the people I bulk-
bill or working people who really rely on
the rebate.
Many of these people fall between the
cracks — they’re not sick enough to be in a
hospital but too sick for 10 sessions.
Mr Michael Costello
Psychologist, Sydney, NSW
I welcome the call to allow psychologists
to write mental health care plans. The vast
majority of plans are done for bureaucratic
purposes and I have plenty to do already.
Psychologists are better than me at this
work, and it’s much more ef