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Geography of primary mental health care through the B etter A ccess initiative in S outh A ustralia 2006–2010
Author(s) -
Carson Dean,
Bidargaddi Niranjan,
Schrader Geoffrey,
Allison Stephen,
Jones Gabrielle Margaret,
Bastiampillai Tarun,
Strobel Jörg
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/ajr.12237
Subject(s) - mental health , service (business) , population , primary care , mental health service , type of service , geography , medicine , business , family medicine , marketing , environmental health , psychiatry
Objective To examine how the rates of the use of particular face‐to‐face primary mental health care services changed in the first 4 years (2006–2010) of the B etter A ccess initiative in both urban and rural regions of S outh A ustralia. Design Time‐series analysis of the number of psychology session, psychiatry assessment and general practitioner care plan services recorded in M edicare A ustralia data. Setting S outh A ustralia. Pre‐existing data set of S outh A ustralian residents who accessed M edicare between 2006 and 2010 Main objective measure Number of services per 100 000 population (service rate). Results Psychology session service rates increased in all regions, but continued to follow a ‘location gradient’, being higher in areas closer to A delaide and lower in areas more distant from A delaide. Psychiatry assessment service rates increased in A delaide but did not change in other regions. Rates in remote areas were subject to substantial variation over time. General practitioner care plan service rates increased in A delaide and in the R iverland, but declined in the M urray M allee region. Conclusions Overall, service rates increased in A delaide and nearby regions, but the results for rural and remote regions were mixed. Possible explanations for the geographical variability include population characteristics (such as socio‐economic status), methods of service delivery (visiting practitioners, telepsych), the relative proportion of total health services provided by general practitioners versus other practitioners, or real variations in the need for primary mental health services.