Message from the Chair

Welcome to the General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration (GPMHSC) autumn newsletter.

NSW and Queensland floods

Our thoughts are with GPs living and working in the areas of south-east Queensland and NSW affected by floods in March. If you’ve been affected by this disaster, please make sure you’re caring for yourself and your family as a priority. The GPMHSC offers self-care resources, and RACGP members can access the GP support program and disaster resources. ACRRM members can access the Natural Disaster Readiness & Recovery webpage.

Focussed psychological strategies CPD requirements

We’re halfway into the last year of the 2020–22 CPD triennium, so I’d like to remind all GP providers of focussed psychological strategies (FPS) of their requirement to complete one FPS CPD activity before 31 December 2022. This will ensure you remain compliant and registered with Services Australia (Medicare) into the next triennium. You can find FPS CPD activities accredited by the GPMHSC on our website.

Better Access review

As you may know, a review of the Better Access initiative is currently in progress. The evaluation will assess what improvements can be made so more people can seek the right support for their mental health. The Federal Government is working with the University of Melbourne as well as clinical advisory groups and stakeholder engagement groups, and we expect the evaluation to be completed in June 2022.

Finally, for GP providers of FPS, eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is now a recognised FPS intervention under Better Access. You can find more information at MBS online.

Assoc Prof Morton Rawlin
Chair, GPMHSC