GP Psychsupport Service Update
10th March 2005
By: ADGP

A national phone, fax and email service is available to all Australian GPs to provide patient management advice from a psychiatrist. 

The GP Psychsupport service is funded by the Australian Government as part of the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care Initiative and was trialed in 2004.

The GP Psychsupport service is available 7 days a week and offers advice within 24 hours.  The service is not intended to meet the needs of emergencies which require police intervention or crisis assessment.  These consumers should be referred to your normal acute psychiatric emergency service. GPs can access the GP Psychsupport service by:

Phone: Call 1800 200 588.  GPs will be asked some brief questions concerning their enquiry, and given a time when a psychiatrist will phone back within 24 hours.

Fax: Fax (02) 9425 3879.  Faxes from GPs will need to include details regarding the issue for discussion.  A psychiatrist will then fax or phone to discuss case details.

Email: go to www.psychsupport.com.au which is a secure and password protected website. GPs simply phone 1800 026 965 to obtain a username and password prior to accessing psychiatrist advice for the first time.  They then log onto www.psychsupport.com.au to register their question.  A psychiatrist will email a response.

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