Australian specialised mental healthcare labour shortages: Potential interventions for consideration and further research

Abstract

Objective: Specialised mental healthcare delivery is highly labour intensive, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated workforce shortfalls. We explore the information on the mental healthcare labour supply in Australia from a health policy viewpoint. Our purpose is to stimulate discussion, further research and development of interventions. Conclusions: The mental healthcare labour market has a number of features that make it prone to shortages and other distortions. These include: the labour-intensive nature of healthcare work;, long-training periods; that traditional policy levers like pay are only partially effective; as well as other challenges in retaining and recruiting mental health nurses and psychiatrists, especially in public mental health services. Further research is needed to develop and evaluate effective interventions. Show more