I get exasperated with the unrelenting demand for mental health care plans. Patients now seem conditioned to expect them as the norm. For someone like me, who enjoys providing direct help to my patients, I’m always left trying to justify my own existence.

The expectation is that the GP is either too busy, untrained, incapable or simply uninterested in providing this type of care. I want to shout out “NO!” at the top of my lungs to all of these assumptions.

I am tired of NPS MedicineWise treatment guidelines for mental health patients that typically minimise or exclude GPs from the equation with their referral pathways to online sources or psychologists.

The GP that has developed a relationship with the patient over years or decades is relegated to a paper shuffler, instead of being applauded for being the frontline, first-choice practitioner.