What is the Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health measure?
The Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health measure aims to expand the capacity of the health system to provide mental health services. An additional 420 mental health nursing and 200 clinical psychology tertiary places annually, as well as postgraduate mental health nursing and clinical psychology scholarships annually will be an important foundation in strengthening Australia's mental health workforce.
The Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health measure forms part of the Australia Government's $1.9 billion Mental Health
Reform package and contribution to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006 - 2011.
Responsibility for the additional tertiary places rests with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), with the balance of the measure lying with the Department of Health and Ageing.
Why is this important?
Major shortages exist in the mental health workforce, particularly in nursing, mental health nursing, psychiatry and clinical psychology postgraduate studies.. These shortages compromise the effective delivery of current services.
This measure will be an important foundation in strengthening the mental health workforce by increasing available tertiary places and providing 75 full time equivalent scholarships annually for mental health nursing and clinical psychology.
This measure will also provide expanded psychiatry training arrangements.
Who will benefit?
There will be an increase in the numbers of mental health nurses and clinical psychologists trained.
Psychiatry trainees will get greater exposure to training outside of teaching hospitals by being also based in private practice and community settings. This will give them experience in the treatment of a wider variety of mental health disorders.
Scholarships will be available for nurses and clinical psychologists undertaking post-graduate training. More tertiary Commonwealth supported places will be made available for nurses and post-graduate clinical psychologists.
What will Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health measure deliver?
A health system with expanded capacity to deliver mental health services, by:
- providing scholarships to support students undertaking postgraduate studies in mental health nursing and clinical psychology in order to increase the qualified workforce within these disciplines;
- expanded specialist training arrangements for psychiatry trainees; and
- assisting in the structural reform of training in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists to facilitate competency based training, increasing the flexibility of training for part time and trainees with interrupted training, improving trainee pass rates and expanding options for lateral entry, particularly of doctors from other medical colleges and overseas trained doctors.
How will it work?
The following initiatives are components of Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health:
- The Mental Health Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme
- Psychiatry Training Outside Teaching Hospitals
- Structural Reform of Psychiatric Training
- Additional Education Places
State and Territory working groups, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), are participating in the development of pilot projects to inform development of expanded training options.
The RANZCP is also working with the Department of Health and Ageing to assist in the structural reform of training within the RANZCP.
What funding is the Australian Government committing?
$103.5 million over five years will be used to support scholarships, additional places in universities for mental health nurses and psychologists, expand clinical training options for trainee psychiatrists and provide junior doctors with exposure to clinical training in the mental health area.
When did the Additional Education Places, Scholarships and Clinical Training in Mental Health measure start?
The scholarships were available for the commencement of the 2007 academic year.
Access to clinical training outside of teaching hospitals for junior doctors and psychiatry trainees commenced in 2007, with a phased implementation.
Further information
For further information on Scholarships, please visit the Nursing and Allied Health Scholarship and Support Scheme website
For information on courses offered by Australian universities, please visit the Going to Uni website
Page currency, Latest update: 23 March, 2010