Table 3: Prevalence of specialist mental health professionals, by Remoteness, 2015
|
|
MC |
IR |
OR |
R |
VR |
|
|
Workers per 100,000 population |
||||
|
Psychiatrist |
16 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
|
Psychologist |
120 |
71 |
48 |
36 |
25 |
|
Mental Health Nurse |
94 |
84 |
51 |
54 |
29 |
|
|
Clinical FTE per 100,000 population |
||||
|
Psychiatrist |
13 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
|
Psychologist |
73 |
46 |
33 |
25 |
18 |
|
Mental Health Nurse |
83 |
74 |
46 |
53 |
29 |
Source: http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au/resources/workforce/
Note: FTE=Full-time equivalent. MC=Major cities, IR=Inner regional areas, OR=Outer regional areas, R=Remote areas and VR=Very remote areas.
Figure 1: Prevalence of specialist mental health professionals, by Remoteness, 2015
Source: http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au/resources/workforce/
The prevalence of mental health professionals (Table 3 and Figure 1) decreases rapidly with remoteness, with psychiatrists being roughly 6 times less prevalent in Very remote areas, psychologists roughly 4 times less prevalent and mental health nurses roughly 3 times less prevalent. Prevalences for these professions in regional/rural areas are about a third to two thirds what they are in Major cities (depending on profession).