AN ANNOUNCEMENT from the Federal Government guaranteeing another 12 months funding for community-based mental health programs has been welcomed by one of Australia's leading medical organisations.

The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has welcomed the announcement that the Federal Government will continue to fund community-based programs while a review of mental health programs and services in Australia is underway.

Until recently, many of the services had been facing significant uncertainty in not knowing whether they were to be funded after June 30.

PRAISE FOR MENTAL HEALTH PLAN

The RDAA had argued that any loss of these services would impact significantly on rural patients and greatly increase pressure on rural doctors to meet local mental healthcare needs.

RDAA president Professor Dennis Pashen said the rural mental health services were critically and sorely needed.

"Rural communities already have reduced access to mental health support, coupled with high rates of morbidity and mortality due to mental health problems," he said

"More widely, those living in rural areas have poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts, and receive less than one-third the amount of Medicare expenditure per head than metropolitan populations.

"There is high demand in rural and remote communities for mental health services, yet it is also very difficult to recruit and retain mental health professionals in the bush."

Mr Pashen said the demand underlined the importance of ensuring long-term funding certainty.