Murray Health Report: Mental health in our region has estimated "full-time GPs are seeing up to five women each week who have experienced some form of intimate partner abuse in the past 12 months".

And a 30 per cent increase in referrals to North East perpetrator programs in the first six months of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, is thought to be linked to the Upper Murray fires.

Primary mental health activity has continued to increase since February 2020, with contacts to services increasing from 3000 to 4000 in July, 2020.

Demand has not reduced, in fact trends indicate activity will continue to rise.

Murray PHN chief executive Matt Jones said the new series of reports better described community need.

"The first one is a mental health report and in six months' time there will be a physical health report," he said.

"We see it as a report card, so it's about accountability as much as it is about information.

"We thought and knew that there was a high demand for mental health services and we also expected to see an increase in the demand associated with bushfires and COVID-19.

"That adds to an already stretched mental health system."

The added demand builds on a long-term trend; mental health-related emergency department representations were below 6000 in 2014-2015 but have trended upwards since then to just below 8000 in 2018-2019.

Suicide rates are higher than the state average in 18 of 22 local government areas in the Murray PHN, which stretches from the South Australian border to the Towong Shire.

Services like Albury Wodonga Health are being consulted in the development of a regional mental health and suicide prevention plan, to be approved and implemented by the middle of next year.

"We need a range of different measures as part of a combined solution," Mr Jones told The Border Mail.

"This is not just a matter of more funding and more services, we need workforce development and training, otherwise in regional areas, we tend to change employment arrangements for the few mental health clinicians.

"The essence of this report is what we have is a range of services trying to address need, and we need a mental health system that includes a range of elements."

The report identifies "the current fragmented funding of mental health care is not meeting the needs of Australians".

"This fragmentation is worse in regional and rural areas, where workforce is a challenge and there can be long wait-lists for people to receive help."

The catchment was also described as having the highest number of solo GPs out of the 31 PHN regions.

"It does mean you often have small-scale services that find it really challenging to be able to provide complex team-based care," Mr Jones said.

"We need more of a regional approach ... and a stepped model of care.

"We need the services to be connected, we need the services to be responsive and we need the services to be provided as early as possible."

Primary health care is largely funded by the Commonwealth government, as are PHNs, while acute care, through hospitals, is funded by state government.

In the six years since PHNs were created by the Commonwealth, Murray PHN's budget for mental health has been $115 million.

The impact of the pandemic has been clear in the mode of delivery of mental health support; compared to May 2019, when the vast majority of services were provided face-to-face, in May 2020 the majority of services were delivered by phone.

IN OTHER NEWS:

In May 2021, face-to-face delivery is yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The threat of COVID-19 and the roll-out of COVID vaccination remain major health and logistics issues for the region and Murray PHN continues to play a pivotal role in planning.

"We're assisting the provision of AstraZeneca through general practice to people over the age of 50, and there is also the state-run Pfizer hubs for people under the age of 50 that are in the 1a and 1b categories," Mr Jones said.

"There has been an increase in the allocation for practices, taking effect now; practices that previously received 50 doses per week are now going to be receiving 150 doses per week and those receiving 100 are going to 200.

"That means as we move into the period where people need a second dose, there's an increase of allocations.

Mr Jones did not have a timeframe for when phase 1a might be complete in the Murray PHN.

"Similar to across Australia, the last phase of 1a is focusing on disability accommodation services, having focused initially on quarantine workers, then on front-line testing staff and aged care," he said.

"It's now moving to disability services."

Mr Jones was awaiting information about the purchase of 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which will be Australia's fourth vaccine option.

"It is exciting news," he said.

"I believe it's going to be produced locally, so that might suggest we have more control over supply than previously, when it has been internationally sourced."