In a major advocacy win for our South Australian Branch and the College, the Psychiatry Workforce Plan: South Australia was launched earlier today by the Hon Chris Picton MP, Minister for Health and Wellbeing. 

This marks the culmination of advocacy by the SA Branch in 2021, a commitment by the Premier to make it a reality during the 2022 state election, and collaboration since then between the SA Branch, the College, and the South Australian Government.  

Across the whole of Australia there's a massive shortage of psychiatrists. But today, South Australia is on the front foot of a national crisis with a dedicated plan to rebuild its psychiatry workforce – and show the rest of the country what’s possible. The plan sets out practical steps to close the gap between community demand and workforce supply, backed by research, evidence and sector input.  

It demonstrates what is possible when government and experts work together towards a common goal. In launching the plan, the Minister said, “The release of this plan has been made possible by the strong relationship between the RANZCP and the State Government, and I thank them for their collaborative approach in working with us on this critical matter for our state.  

“We committed to partnering with psychiatrists here on the ground to develop a robust plan to tackle the national psychiatry workforce shortage, which is what we have delivered today.  

“Our government continues with our ambitious agenda to grow our mental health services and workforce to meet the increased demand in the community. This includes launching an interstate and international mental health recruitment campaign while we build more than 130 additional mental health beds.” The College thanks the SA Government and the Minister for their efforts in bringing both this plan and the much-needed expansion of our public mental health bed capacity to fruition. We also thank the SA Branch Committee and all other members who have contributed to this achievement.  

We now stand ready to work alongside the government to put this plan into action.