Accessibility and Quality of Mental Health Services in Rural and Remote Australia: Response to the Inquiry by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee

This submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee’s inquiry into the accessibility and quality of mental health services in rural and remote Australia sets out how research can inform the Committee’s work. Drawing on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data, Research Australia notes that mental health-related emergency department presentations were highest in remote and very remote areas (185.3 per 10,000 population in 2016–17, against 101.2 in major cities), while Medicare-subsidised mental health GP services were lowest in very remote areas (29.4 per 1,000, against 146.0 in inner regional areas), despite remote areas having more full-time equivalent GPs per head. It maintains that the causes of these differences, including socioeconomic status, stigma and reduced anonymity, are poorly understood, as are the types and severity of mental illness and the reasons for higher rural suicide rates. Research Australia recommends the Committee to engage with researchers to identify where further evidence is needed, and points to roles for epidemiology, health services research, health economics, social science and workforce research, and for evaluating telehealth programs as they are delivered. It illustrates these with case studies from the Australian National University’s Rural Mental Health research group, the Black Dog Institute’s Lifespan suicide prevention program, the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health and the University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health, and offers to convene a researcher briefing for Committee members.