Description of figure GP.1 - Source data Mental health services provided by general practitioners tables (1.82MB XLS)
After adjusting for differences in age structure between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the rate of encounters was higher for non-Indigenous Australians than for Indigenous Australians (658.6 and 578.7 per 1,000 population respectively). For remoteness area categories, the rate of encounters was highest for people living in Inner Regional areas (947.5 per 1,000 population) while the rate for people living in Remote and very remote areas was the lowest (339.2).
Problems encountered
The BEACH survey found that Depression, Anxiety and Sleep disturbance were the 3 most frequently GP managed mental health-related problems in 2015–16, accounting for 60.8% of all mental health-related problems managed (Figure GP.2) and 5.1% of all health problems managed. Mental health-related problems were managed at a rate of 13.1 per 100 encounters, including encounters where multiple problems were managed.