A world-first telehealth psychiatry service is at risk of closing despite needing only $400,000 a year to survive, amid a growing push for a payroll tax levy to help fund the state’s ballooning healthcare bill.
Professor Leanne Togher, a speech pathologist and brain injury specialist who helped set up the pilot program, said many of the people in the scheme lived in rural areas and had never seen a specialist for the complex mental health issues they developed after their brain injuries. McKay bounced around GPs and psychiatrists who she said “didn’t understand brain injuries”, before her doctors at the Westmead Hospital brain injury rehabilitation unit connected her with the telehealth psychiatry program led by Dr Ralf Ilchef.
In his submission to the government’s Expenditure Review Committee ahead of the budget, Buckingham said NSW had the opportunity to evolve from being a “laggard to leader in mental health” with the requisite funding.
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Source: brisbanetimes - 🏆 13. / 67 Read more »