Psychiatrist calls for govt funding for trainees in private practice to bolster workforce
Melbourne psychiatrist Professor Richard Harvey said the move would be a ‘win-win’.
Should government funding be opened up for psychiatry trainees to work in private practice?
Currently, about 50% of psychiatry fellows end up in private practice despite most receiving no formal training outside of the public setting.
With waitlists spiralling and patients struggling to access help, Melbourne psychiatrist Professor Richard Harvey wants the Federal Government to fund psychiatry trainee rotations in private practice.
“There’s nowhere near enough private psychiatrists for the amount of demand from patients for appointments, so we need to increase the pool of psychiatrists doing that work,” he tells AusDoc.
