TY - JOUR
AU - H. Ngo
AU - M. Taran
AU - B. Cuesta-Briand
AU - K. Ridley
AU - M. Coleman
A1 - 
AB - OBJECTIVE(S): To assess the impact of a regional General Practitioner Psychiatry Phone Line (GPPPL), embedded in a public Community Mental Health service (CMHS) on the wider health service's workflow and systemic outcomes. DESIGN: Non-controlled population-based interventional study. SETTING: Public CMHS in the Great Southern region of Western Australia (WA). PARTICIPANTS: Aggregated monthly data on (i) referrals to the CMHS (July 2017-March 2022), and (ii) Emergency Department presentations (July 2017-May 2022) were obtained from the West Australian Country Health Service. INTERVENTION: Introduction of a regional GPPPL, for local publicly employed psychiatrists to provide specialist mental health care advice to General Practitioners working in the same region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Service input: Number of calls to the GPPPL, call duration and frequency. Service output: Rate of referrals to the CMHS, and rate of Emergency Department presentations related to mental health issues, and alcohol and other drugs. RESULTS: The number of weekly calls to the GPPPL decreased (slope -0.13, 95% CI -0.17, -0.08; p < 0.0001) over the course of the one-year pilot. The referral rate to CMHS was approximately 70.5 referrals per 1000 person-years in July 2017, and quite steady pre-GPPPL (p = 0.9283), then reduced significantly post-GPPPL, by 1.7 (95% CI 0.14, 3.26; p = 0.0372) referrals per 1000 person-years each month. CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated the GPPPL's effectiveness in reducing the referral rates to CMHS and its self-sustainability. The psychiatrists involved were able to continue full-time public service roles while running the phoneline, with a decreasing time demand over the one-year pilot.
AD - The Rural Clinical School of Western Australia, School of Medicine, the University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.; Western Australia Country Health Service, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
AN - 40492663
BT - Aust J Rural Health
C5 - Education & Workforce
CP - 3
DA - Jun
DO - 10.1111/ajr.70062
DP - NLM
IS - 3
JF - Aust J Rural Health
LA - eng
N2 - OBJECTIVE(S): To assess the impact of a regional General Practitioner Psychiatry Phone Line (GPPPL), embedded in a public Community Mental Health service (CMHS) on the wider health service's workflow and systemic outcomes. DESIGN: Non-controlled population-based interventional study. SETTING: Public CMHS in the Great Southern region of Western Australia (WA). PARTICIPANTS: Aggregated monthly data on (i) referrals to the CMHS (July 2017-March 2022), and (ii) Emergency Department presentations (July 2017-May 2022) were obtained from the West Australian Country Health Service. INTERVENTION: Introduction of a regional GPPPL, for local publicly employed psychiatrists to provide specialist mental health care advice to General Practitioners working in the same region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Service input: Number of calls to the GPPPL, call duration and frequency. Service output: Rate of referrals to the CMHS, and rate of Emergency Department presentations related to mental health issues, and alcohol and other drugs. RESULTS: The number of weekly calls to the GPPPL decreased (slope -0.13, 95% CI -0.17, -0.08; p < 0.0001) over the course of the one-year pilot. The referral rate to CMHS was approximately 70.5 referrals per 1000 person-years in July 2017, and quite steady pre-GPPPL (p = 0.9283), then reduced significantly post-GPPPL, by 1.7 (95% CI 0.14, 3.26; p = 0.0372) referrals per 1000 person-years each month. CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated the GPPPL's effectiveness in reducing the referral rates to CMHS and its self-sustainability. The psychiatrists involved were able to continue full-time public service roles while running the phoneline, with a decreasing time demand over the one-year pilot.
PY - 2025
SN - 1038-5282 (Print); 1038-5282
SP - e70062
ST - Western Australia's First and Regional General Practitioner Psychiatry Phone Line to Improve Primary Mental Health Care: Indicators of Effectiveness and Sustainability: A Non-Controlled Population-Based Interventional Study
T1 - Western Australia's First and Regional General Practitioner Psychiatry Phone Line to Improve Primary Mental Health Care: Indicators of Effectiveness and Sustainability: A Non-Controlled Population-Based Interventional Study
T2 - Aust J Rural Health
TI - Western Australia's First and Regional General Practitioner Psychiatry Phone Line to Improve Primary Mental Health Care: Indicators of Effectiveness and Sustainability: A Non-Controlled Population-Based Interventional Study
U1 - Education & Workforce
U3 - 10.1111/ajr.70062
VL - 33
VO - 1038-5282 (Print); 1038-5282
Y1 - 2025
ER -