GPs spending longer with patients as mental health cases surge
Australian GPs now spend an average of 19.8 minutes per patient, up from 17.7 minutes in 2022, as mental health cases surge.
General practitioners across Australia are spending significantly more time with each patient as they battle rising complexity in their work. The average consultation hit 19.8 minutes in 2026, up from 17.7 minutes just four years earlier.
Over 70 per cent of 2,766 GPs surveyed named complex care as their biggest challenge. Mental health is now the leading reason patients visit a GP, reported by 67 per cent of practitioners.
Anxiety and depression are driving the load, with GPs citing financial stress, housing insecurity and relationship breakdowns as underlying causes. GPs are also filling gaps elsewhere in the health system.
Almost 90 per cent manage conditions usually handled by specialists, and 76 per cent treat problems typically seen in emergency departments.
- 19.8 minutes
- Average consultation time 2026
- 17.7 minutes
- Consultation time 2022
- 2,766
- GPs surveyed
- 67 per cent
- Mental health leading reason for visits
Why it mattersThe system does not pay for the time complex care actually requires, and women GPs report lower job satisfaction than male colleagues for the first time.
AustraliaAustralian GPs are stretched thin managing mental health crises and complex care that Medicare rebates do not adequately cover, forcing some to cut appointment numbers.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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