A leading psychiatrist says GPs are right to be frustrated over rejected psychiatry letters — but should put the blame on politicians not psychiatrists, who are struggling to meet escalating demand in a “broken” system.

Dr Angelo Virgona, chair of the The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ NSW branch, was responding to comments by GP Dr Andrew Leech, whose frustration over rebuffed referrals bubbled over last week.

Dr Leech penned an open letter on the RACGP website wondering whether psychiatry had become a field of “subspecialties” owing to the growing list of reasons they had given him for refusing to see his patients. 

It had become the “norm” for referrals to be rejected, for reasons including his patients were too old — or too young, Dr Leech wrote.