Consultmed partners with Psych2U to improve access to mental health referrals for all Australians.

PSYCH2U provides bulk-billed psychiatry and psychology services delivered by videoconference.

Dr Jeyasingam is one of around 50 psychiatrists and psychologists of a broad range of specialisations. He said there had been “a tsunami of referrals” since covid and that the Consultmed partnership had streamlined the referral and triage process.

“Consultmed enables GPs to find a quick match with an available psychiatrist or psychologist who specialises in the patient’s particular demographic or mental health condition,” he said.

“In the last week, I’ve seen at least 20 patients (from remote communities) who would not have had an initial consultation if it wasn’t for this service. Not just seen by myself but by any psychiatrist,” he said.

Dr Matthew Lam, a GP in Western Sydney and clinical advisor to Consultmed, said many of his patients didn’t have a car to get to health appointments.

“These communities are not public transport or walking-friendly, especially out in Western Sydney,” he said.

“It’s almost borderline discriminatory to take away that telehealth service from these communities. It would be a huge burden.”

The partnership between Consultmed and My Emergency Doctor will go live early next week, said Consultmed’s founder Dr Vikram Palit.

“There’s a long-standing epidemic of limited access to specialist care and it’s obviously pretty hard to see mental health professionals. This is one really nice way of improving access to psychologists and psychiatrists,” he said.

Consultmed also recently won a contract with Healthy North Coast PHN to run their Head to Health referral services.

See full media release here:

Bullish providers slam MRAC’s proposed telehealth cuts