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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a psychiatrist?

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specialises in the
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses
and emotional disorders. Their training includes
a medical degree followed by additional specialisation
in psychiatry.

There is no cost to the veteran. Medilinks Access is paid by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for the services provided, leaving the veteran with no out-of-pocket expenses.

Our psychiatrists are located all across the country and we use telehealth appointments for our veterans. Many of our veterans find telehealth incredibly convenient because they can access our services from the comfort of their homes.

Although we do not currently offer face to face appointments, our veterans find telehealth incredibly convenient because they can access our services from the comfort of their homes.

While we don’t currently offer ongoing treatment this is an option we are looking at implementing in the near future.

In the meantime we are focussing on providing veterans easy and fast access to high quality psychiatric assessment services to support them in their mental health claims

We also have several different referral options to veterans that may require continued and ongoing mental health support. We work closely with several different organisations who can assist veterans who need ongoing support.

Once we have access to a report request from DVA, we aim to have the appointments completed, report finalised and uploaded to DVA within 4 weeks.

As you’re likely aware, the journey to seeing a psychiatrist can often be a lengthy one, with some veterans enduring waits exceeding 12 months. Our objective is to alleviate some of the burdens associated with this process by significantly reducing potential wait times and delivering comprehensive, high-quality reports.

Our psychiatry team is comprised of multiple expert and caring psychiatrists located across various regions of Australia. We prioritise equipping all our psychiatrists with a deep understanding of the unique challenges associated with military life.

Additionally, we take measures to ensure they possess a clear grasp of the specific data and details that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs requires in their assessment reports. This approach minimises the likelihood of reports being sent back for supplementary information.

Furthermore, to ensure the quality of our report we have a quality assurance team who review each report prior to submission.

No GP referral is required to access our services provided you have a report request from DVA.

While we do not give initial diagnoses prior to claims submission, we are able to produce quality, timely reports once the claim reaches the delegate stage with DVA.

Many advocates and veterans are lodging Initial Liability Claims for generalised mental health conditions after identifying that the veteran has mental health conditions related to their military service. This may be after their treating GP or psychologist identifies mental health conditions.

Once the claim reaches the delegate stage of the compensation claim process, the delegate will request a formal diagnosis report that can only be completed by a psychiatrist. This is where we can assist. With a formal diagnostic report request we can get the veteran booked in and the formal diagnostic report uploaded to DVA within 4 to 6 weeks. We also service many veterans who have an ongoing treating psychiatrist who does not wish to complete the DVA formal diagnostic report, does not know how to, or is not confident enough to do so.

Medilinks, as a veteran run organisation, is proud to draw on firsthand experiences and a sincere commitment to the well-being of the veterans we assist. Our focus is on delivering high quality assessments that result in positive outcomes for veterans as they navigate the DVA mental health claims process. We take pride in our timely services, aimed at saving veterans from prolonged wait times, which can extend beyond 12 months.

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