Accessing mental health services for older people in rural South Australia

Mental healthcare for older people is primarily delivered in the community with informal carers, usually family providing much of this. Older people often require input from a range of services across sectors. In Australia, the different funding and governance structures of these services makes for a complex landscape for older people, their families and mental health workers to navigate. As many people now care into later life, the consequences of not getting the required support include the potential for increased carer burden and reduced capacity to fulfil caring tasks. To help address this, partnerships between carers and service providers are recommended. We were interested in exploring rural carers' experiences of accessing care from a range of services for older people with mental health problems with the view to identify what was currently working, as well as what could be changed to improve service access, coordination of care and positive experience of care.