A leaked memo has revealed that the ATAPS program is struggling to cope with the demands for psychological treatment, even in metropolitan areas where there are large numbers of mental health practitioners available. Just before Christmas, the Alliance for Better Access received an internal memo about the ATAPS program in the South Brisbane Metro area, which states that each GP will be limited to just three (3) referrals to the ATAPS program. The memo confirms the concerns we have raised previously that the capped funding model of ATAPS is simply unable to cope with the public need for psychological treatment. To put it simply, when the system can’t cope with people, then people can’t cope with the system.

A few weeks ago we equates to around 162,000 people who will miss out on psychological treatment each year. That might be justifiable if tax-payer funds were actually being reinvested into psychological treatment services at around the same cost, but that isn’t the case. You see, the ATAPS program costs a lot more to run and when you look at the growth of the ATAPS program since all of that funding was diverted away from Medicare, it is plain to see that this juggling act has resulted in lower rates of access to treatment.

As a case in point, the leaked memo and other public statements from the Minister indicate that the rate of referrals to ATAPS have tripled in some heavily populated areas, which sounds great, but in reality that still only represents a tiny fraction of the people reached by Medicare. That is, if we assume that referrals have tripled in all locations and factor that into the calculated number of people referred to ATAPS each year, we would come to around 70,000 people, which is still just 12% of the number who rely on the Medicare system to access psychological treatment. Of course, we wouldn’t expect ATAPS referrals to triple in every location as they have in metropolitan areas, however, the point in making these calculations is to show that even when we are extremely generous with calculating these estimates, the ATAPS program does not have anywhere near the capacity to cope with the demand for psychological treatment across Australian society.

There are much deeper problems though with this model of service delivery. The recent leaked memo is similar to previously leaked materials we have received from other regions, showing that the ATAPS program is being limited with vouchers that only provide access to 6 appointments per patient. The capped funding model means that GPs are no longer able to refer on the basis of the mental health needs of the patient, but rather, on the basis of funding limitations. Likewise, therapists are no longer able to deliver a level of psychological care based on the needs of the patient, but rather, are forced to limit therapy to the amount of sessions determined by politicians and administrators. In each case, the ability to provide psychological care to people with a mental health condition is being taken away from our mental health professionals and put in the hands of managers who are detached from any contact with the patient. Compounding this is the problem that those managers and policy advisers making decisions about the level of psychological care given to patients lack the competence to evaluate research about best practices in mental health care. In many cases we are talking about people with a policy or law background trying to make sense of psychotherapy research, without the background training or clinical experience. The rationale to re-direct funding to ATAPS on the basis that people with more complex needs would be better served by that program makes no sense given the limitations that now come to bear on the program. The capped funding model simply does not work in this area and makes it impossible for mental health professionals to provide proper care for this sensitive patient group.

We need to get the system right, otherwise people are going to fall through the cracks or find themselves shut out from accessing treatment. When people experience this it is confusing and extremely disheartening, which is the last thing we should be doing to those who are struggling with a mental health condition and asking for help. Please consider helping us convince our politicians to see some sense on this issue and turn this bad policy decision around. Medicare support should not be scaled back below the recommended minimum standard of psychological care, which is 15 to 20 appointments. Please write to our Prime Minister and show Julia Gillard that Australians take this issue seriously. Join us on Facebook and tell us what you think about this important issue. Every voice makes a difference!