The challenges facing the public mental health sector: implications of the Victorian Psychiatry workforce project.

OBJECTIVES: This paper reviews the major findings of the Victorian Psychiatry Attraction, Recruitment and Retention Needs Analysis Project and considers some of the implications for the psychiatrist workforce working in public sector psychiatry. CONCLUSIONS: The report provides a snapshot of the issues that are impairing the ability of Victorian psychiatrists to comprehensively treat those in our community who have severe mental illness. As the report shows, the issues impacting the profession are multi-faceted and complex, yet surmountable.