GPs are demanding the restrictions on co-claiming attendances with mental health treatment items be ditched, arguing it is causing a “dangerous dumbing down” of medical care.

There was an angry backlash from the specialty last week when it emerged the Department of Health had targeted 341 GPs asking them to explain why such a high proportion of their mental health items were being claimed with consultation items on the same day.

The MBS rules state that if a mental health treatment item is “undertaken or initiated” during a consultation for another purpose then it can be claimed alongside the attendance item.

But there is a further clause declaring “a separate and additional consultation should not be undertaken in conjunction with the mental health consultation, unless it is clinically indicated that a separate problem must be treated immediately”.