What is the current level of mental health service delivery and expenditure on infants, children, adolescents, and young people in Australia?:

Objectives:The study aim was to estimate the current level of ambulatory mental health service delivery to young people aged 0–24 years in Australia and associated government expenditure. Recognising the importance of the early years for the development of mental illness and socioeconomic outcomes, we were particularly interested in service access by infants and young children.Methods:We extracted information from government administrative datasets on the number of people who received mental health services, number of services and expenditure through the health sector for 2014–2015. Results are primarily reported by age groups 0–4, 5–11, 12–17 and 18–24 years.Results:Less than 1% of 0- to 4-year-olds received a mental health service in any one service setting, whereas nearly 11% of 18- to 24-year-olds received a mental health service through the Medicare Benefits Schedule Better Access programme alone. Many more services were delivered to 12- to 24-year-olds (>4 million) than to 0- to 11-year-olds (552,00...