The state "spends the lowest of any state or territory on mental health" and could do with a boost of at least $700 million annually, the Australian Medical Association says.
"During COVID we have seen a 28 per cent increase in presentations to emergency departments for mental health services, and a 50 per cent increase in presentations to GPs for patients seeking help for mental health conditions," AMA Queensland President Professor Chris Perry says.
A number of wealthy European countries "have a bigger spend and a better outcome" in their approach to mental health, a Queensland Parliament Select Committee hearing was told on Thursday.
"If you get a psychosis in Denmark, you get a guaranteed psychotherapist for two years to help you sort out your life, and you carry that person with you wherever you go," says Associate Professor John Allan, Queensland Health Executive Director of Mental Health Alcohol and other Drugs.
In Finland, technology bridges the gap of providing effective mental health care to remote communities, he said.
"They actually get the best therapists for telemedicine."
While Queensland "punches above its weight" on a global scale, there is lots to learn from these overseas models, Prof Allan said.
According to the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Queensland is the lowest funded jurisdiction per capita for mental health care, and an injection of about $750 million is needed, the hearing was told on Thursday.
"We've actually got an efficient system, and if we're running an efficient system … then our spend per capita should be slightly lower," Queensland Health Chief Operating Officer Shaun Drummond says.
Some of the state's mental health care occurs in the acute system, and is not captured in the mental health spend, he said.
"Part of this is the opportunity around how we actually reorientate that into a stronger model for the community, because there is spend occurring elsewhere inside our system."
While the exact figure is unclear, Prof Allan says more funding is needed.
"The quantum of that is going to be decided by other people, but I think we try to make the case that it's a large amount of money," he said.
The Queensland government may have inadvertently created an opportunity for more community psychiatry through its $265 million satellite hospital program, the AMA says.
"They're called hospitals even though there's no doctors, which is a bit of a bizarre thing," Prof Perry said, suggesting the satellite buildings might end up "half white elephants".
"We might find a lot of extra room there, and that'll be a great place to have a community psychiatry."
Different approaches to mental health care can have flow on effects for other areas of government spending, the committee was told.
In Portugal, addiction rates have dropped following the move to decriminalise possession and consumption of all illicit substances two years ago.
"They've changed the way they interact with drugs and alcohol in the community, and so it's produced different outcomes for them, including reduced pressure on corrections, reduced pressure on police (and) reduced pressure on courts," Queensland Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic told the hearing.
"We're not Portugal, we're different to Portugal, but there are elements and pockets in Canada, in the US … even just across the ditch in New Zealand, but also here in Queensland, we're doing some really good things."
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