The NSW government is running out of time to prevent 203 of the state’s public psychiatrists from leaving their roles, but the college reckons it has a (partial) solution.
The RACGP is calling on the NSW government to allow GPs to initiate and prescribe stimulant medicines for ADHD, as the state faces a looming mental health workforce crisis.
At time of writing, there are just five days until the resignations of some 203 psychiatrists employed by NSW Health will take effect.
The mass resignation was in response to continued understaffing and under-resourcing, and in the midst of a pay dispute.
With time running out for some kind of compromise, RACGP NSW chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman said GPs should be allowed to give more support to people with ADHD.
“The New South Wales workforce crisis makes these changes even more urgent … [and] we have solutions,” she said.
“Allowing GPs to give more support to people living with ADHD will not only help these patients, it will help ease pressure on our psychiatrist colleagues.”
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While GPs can change doses of and co-prescribe stimulant medicines for ADHD with a non-GP specialist in every state bar WA, they can only change drugs in the NT, SA and Tasmania.
In NSW, GPs must also apply for a state-based authority prescribe stimulants.
Under some circumstances, GPs who work in rural or remote areas or in a paediatrically-orientated practice can independently initiate prescriptions for some patients.
The only Commonwealth-supported recommendation to come out of the federal government response to the ADHD Senate Inquiry was that state and territory health ministers should work together to expedite the development of uniform prescribing rules across jurisdictions.
“People in NSW face significant barriers to ADHD care – they often have to wait months and pay hundreds of dollars for psychiatrists to confirm their diagnosis and get scripts that could be easily and safely prescribed by their GP,” Dr Hoffman said.
