The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine’s Still Waiting report, released this week, is a sobering reminder that Australians experiencing mental illness are not receiving the same standard of care as those with physical health conditions.

Mental health presentations to EDs have increased by nearly 12% between in seven years, with the sharpest increases in people over 65.

And to be clear here, the urgency and complexity of the presentations have also increased, with more people arriving by ambulance triaged as high acuity (Australasian Triage Scale 1-3).

In a universal health system that prides itself on fairness, this failure to support people before reaching a crisis point, is unacceptable and persistent discrimination.