By Broede Carmody,Henrietta Cook

Copyright theage

A mental health treatment plan, which can be obtained from a GP, allows patients to claim on Medicare up to 10 sessions with a mental health professional each calendar year.

Headspace has stressed that its Werribee site can still see young patients for urgent appointments. The wait time for this kind of shorter-term treatment in Werribee is two days.

The revelation about treatment plans comes after key players in health and infrastructure told The Age the Allan government needed to urgently invest in extra mental and community health services alongside the west’s existing pipeline of major new hospitals.

City of Melton Mayor Steve Abboushi said there were “critical gaps” in mental health services in his municipality.