Mental health patients in rural Australia feel 'forgotten' in spite of billions of dollars in funding.
Health estimates that last year, 121 full-time-equivalent psychologists were employed to work in regional and remote areas.
One of the few rural psychologists in the North Burnett region, senior psychologist Hazel Burscough travels about 50,000 kilometres a year for work. She says she is fully booked every time when she visits a town and in one day can see up to 8 patients.
Ms Burscough says most contracts given to rural and regional mental health workers are short-term, which, coupled with the prospect of moving to a remote area, attracts fewer specialists.