Cape York communities will see less on-ground mental health support as RFDS reduces its face-to-face service from July due to rising operating costs. Photo: RFDS Mental Health and Wellbeing Cape York Facebook.
Cape York residents utilising regular mental health support will soon need to rely on telehealth as the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) reduces its face-to-face service from 1 July.
In a letter sent to stakeholders seen by Cape York Weekly, RFDS (Queensland Section) CEO Meredith Staib stated that the cost of delivering remote outreach services had increased significantly across workforce, travel, accommodation and operational logistics.
“RFDS has absorbed these rising costs and implemented efficiency measures wherever possible to minimise disruption to the communities we serve, but as a not-for-profit organisation, the scale of these pressures has now exceeded what can reasonably be sustained within current available funding,” the letter read.
“This decision has not been made lightly and has been guided at every stage by our commitment to maintaining safe, consistent and accessible care for patients.”
The RFDS has provided accessible, culturally safe, community-based mental health support across Cape York communities since 2008, but will now change its operating model to a two-week on-ground outreach followed by one week of telehealth, on a repeating three-week cycle, across most locations.
RFDS (Queensland Section) chief operating officer – clinical service delivery Mr Dom Tait said the new model had been designed to maintain continuity with known clinicians and established referral pathways, helping to ensure patients continued to receive trusted and coordinated care.
“We are confident our service model including face-to-face and telehealth options will continue to provide high-quality mental health care for those in need,” he told Cape York Weekly.
“Currently, almost 30 per cent of mental health consultations across Cape York are being conducted by telehealth.
“By integrating a higher level of telehealth consultations, we will be able to maintain continuity of care.”
RFDS will utilise the repeating three-week cycle model in the Cooktown cluster, Weipa cluster, Kowanyama, Northern Peninsula Area and Lockhart River, while the Pormpuraaw community is to be supported by telehealth.
