In a collaboration between the University of Sydney and the AIHW, the Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre established a survey of general practice activity called the Bettering the Evaluation of Care and Health (BEACH) survey. The survey collection began in April 1998 and collects information about the consultation (e.g. date, type of consultation), the patient (e.g. date of birth, sex, and reasons for encounter), the patient's presenting problems (e.g. diagnoses, status of each problem), and the management for each problem (e.g. treatment provided, prescriptions, referrals). A detailed summary of the BEACH survey and the data collected can be found in the General practice activity in Australia series (latest report: General practice activity in Australia 2008-09).
A selection of mental health-related data from the BEACH survey and published in Mental health services in Australia 2007-08 follows.
General practitioners participating in the survey managed a diverse range of mental health problems at a rate of 11.7 per 100 encounters. Based on data from the 2008-09 BEACH survey, depression was the most frequently managed mental health problem, accounting for approximately 34% of all mental health problems managed and 2.8% of all managed problems. The problems of anxiety (16%) and sleep disturbance (13%) were the next most frequently managed mental health problems.