Primary care provision for mental health

The treatment of mental illness in New Zealand has seen a steady transition from institutionalised to community-based care, from the mental institutions of the late 19th century to the service-based facilities we see today. While this change in attitude towards mental illness is to be celebrated, it does not come without its challenges, and general practice (GP) clinics nationally have been finding these hard to overcome, particularly in rural and low socio-economic areas. But these challenges are not insurmountable, and, as a body, we welcome more opportunities to reduce the escalation of common mental health problems to a scale that requires hospital or specialist residential care.