MBS DEMOGRAPHICS


AGE AND SEX

Graph 2 shows the proportion of each age group of males and females in Australia who accessed MBS subsidised mental health-related services in 2011.

Females were more likely to access MBS subsidised mental health-related services than males with around 9% of all Australian females accessing services in 2011 compared with 6% of all males. Overall, a higher proportion of people aged 15-64 years accessed these subsidised mental health-related services compared with people younger or older than this age group.

PROVIDER TYPE

As Graph 3 shows, for both females and males, General Practitioners (GPs) were the most common service provider with over 1.2 million Australians attending a GP in 2011 for a subsidised mental health-related service. Around 7% of all females and 4% of all males attended the GP. Psychologists were the next most common service provider for both females and males (4% of all females and 2.4% of all males).




STATE AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

In 2011, Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Queensland had similar rates of subsidised mental health-related services (around 7 to 8% of all people in each State). People in Major Cities and Inner Regional areas were more likely to access one of these services than people living outside of these areas. As with the national pattern, GPs were the most common service provider across all of the remoteness areas.


SOCIOECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES

The Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD) is a general socio-economic index that summarises a range of information about the economic and social conditions of people and households within an area. By using the IRSD from the Census and combining it with the MBS data it is possible to determine the socio-economic patterns amongst those who accessed subsidised mental health-related services.

In 2011, of all people living in the most disadvantaged areas, 6.2% accessed a subsidised mental health-related service from a GP, followed by 2.9% accessing a psychologist and 1.3% accessing a psychiatrist. Of all people living in areas of least disadvantage, 5.2% accessed a subsidised mental health-related service provided by a GP, followed by 3.6% accessing a psychologist and 1.7% accessing a psychiatrist.