Absolutely. The government is doing what it can to encourage people to go to nurses as a first port of call, for example. I am actually currently working with a community mental health nurse for my psychological support. She's every bit as helpful to me with respect to my needs right now as any psychiatrist has ever been. And the government pays her a lot less than they would be paying for me to similarly see a psychiatrist.

I think the division of labor between medicine and allied health really does need to develop. I am particularly interested in developing physiotherapy so as to prevent hip replacements. Standing on a wobble board: Silly. Teaching people how to fall safely: Priceless. Little things... How abdominal activation can pull your back pain (your joint compression) right out... Catching joint instability early and teaching people to use their muscles in order to save their joints... Exercise... Nutrition... Not just telling people what they know already 'you need to eat better and exercise more' but professionals (personal trainers etc) actually getting in there and walking people through life changes until the changes become part of... Who the person is... Much cheaper than a lifetime of diabetes meds for... How many generations? Surely...

Part of the problem is that allied health fields have a long way to go in their professional development. It is only fairly recently that nursing has developed a professional identity. In the US physiotherapy is a PhD level, graduate program. In Commonwealth Countries (UK, Australia, NZ) physiotherapy is a 4 year undergraduate degree. It is more... Massage therapy (not much knowledge of anatomy / physiology) than something that is really in the position to be working closely with orthopedic (respiratory, etc) surgeons. The journals need to develop etc. I was very upset to learn that physiotherapy in this country is going more the way of hairdressing or beauty therapy (a consumer pays 'feel better' service) than trying to align with health and get some of that health funding to develop more empirically effective treatments.

Part of the problem... Is this view of medicine as the 'elite' field. Partly it gets this reputation from being most competitive to get into so this idea that it gets the 'best' (the smartest, the hardest working) students. And the medical program is 6 years whereas most other fields require significantly less years of study. So then this idea that medical doctors are 'better' (smarter, more knowledgeable, more hardworking) than allied health professionals. So... Some people would rather see a doctor than allied health.

On the other hand... Medical doctors are pretty out of touch. I was having a discussion with a medical student the other day and it emerged that she believed that plumbers make more money than medical doctors do. Medical students don't represent the communities they are expected to serve with respect to major demographics. Socio-economic background etc. They don't know what it is like to be stuck in some horrible dead-end job with no forseeable way out... They don't know what it is like to be living on welfare struggling to feed their kids... They don't know what it is like to be the victim of racism... They don't know what it is like to be struggling with disability...

I am kinda wary... I mean... I didn't get along so well with AA / NA. But they were consumer empowered rah rah. Just because you have been there... Doesn't mean other's experience is the same as yours, or that only people who have been there can be in the position to help.

Anyway... Things are developing, for sure. In my lifetime (36 now) I think that psychiatry services have gotten better. Sometimes it has seemed a bit like things have gone backwards... But I think overall there has been some kinda progress...