Nursing Revolution in Australian Primary Mental Health

In Australia, a revolution is in the offing in primary psychiatric service delivery. Mental health nurse specialists are moving out from crisis and community-care teams attached to the public hospitals and community psychiatric clinics. To-date, three levels of psychiatric nursing have evolved: traditional basic mental health nursing; novel advanced nursing; and, advanced nursing with prescribing rights (Keltner & Folks, 1999; Talley & Brooke, 1992). The advanced forms are partnering with primary care physicians in private practice (Fisher, 2005; Hurley et al., 2014). Psychiatrists are beginning to link up with these nurse specialists, at the GP clinics. They are their natural, professional partners, sharing roles and responsibilities (Elsom, Happell, Manias & Lambert, 2007) This article argues for the benefits of models of primary psychiatric care in which the psychiatric nurse is the lynchpin of service delivery.