Natalie Whiting reported this story on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 18:18:00 (ABC NEWS)

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DAVID MARK: There are concerns that funding cuts for psychiatrists in western New South Wales could have fatal consequences.

Three psychiatrists who regularly visit the major western centre of Dubbo will stop their trips following a decision by the local health district to stop paying for their travel.

With a drought once again taking hold in much of the region, the Australian Medical Association says it's concerned the demand for psychiatric services may increase at a time when services could be shrinking.

Natalie Whiting reports.

NATALIE WHITING: Doctor Andrew Frukacz has been travelling to the city of Dubbo once a week for the past 16 years to provide psychiatric services to people from the western region.

But health chiefs have decided to stop covering the travel costs of visiting psychiatrists and he says he can no longer afford to go.

ANDREW FRUKACZ: Some patients are quite distressed, like this particular patient that phoned me, because I've been seeing him on a regular basis over five years, and there's obviously concern that seeing someone new for the first time will result in increased anxiety.

NATALIE WHITING: Dr Frukacz will stop servicing Dubbo at the end of the month and he says two other psychiatrists will also stop visiting in January.

The Western Local Health District is trying to rein in its costs after a $20 million budget blow out.

The chief executive officer, Scott McLachlan, says the district paid $600,000 in six months, just in aeroplane tickets.

SCOTT MCLACHLAN: Let alone the costs of some of the valet parking we were paying for and a range of other things that meant that we were using money on flying people in, not providing clinical services on the ground.

NATALIE WHITING: He says cutting the travel expenses is part of a plan to encourage psychiatrists to live in the region.

SCOTT MCLACHLAN: And when we looked at a lot of the psychiatrists that were flying into the region, we were paying for a lot of their expenses to come into the region that was making it very attractive for them to live in Sydney and not relocate to our region and live in Dubbo.

NATALIE WHITING: Dr Frukacz says he's concerned about what will happen if more psychiatrists decide to stop visiting Dubbo.

ANDREW FRUKACZ: The absence of adequate psychiatric services means that people with mental health issues won't be able to be seen or won't be able to be seen effectively. That would mean that people are missing out on services, or they'll have to travel to Sydney to access services or they won't access services at all and that could lead to a deterioration in people's mental health and potentially could lead to fatal consequences.

NATALIE WHITING: He says the situation disadvantages regional people.

ANDREW FRUKACZ: The specialists in Sydney don't have to travel to provide services in Sydney and the metropolitan area, so this will have a huge impact to people in regional and rural areas, in comparison to people in Sydney.

NATALIE WHITING: Doctor Choong-Siew Yong from the Australian Medical Association says visiting psychiatric services are vital and need to be supported, especially with the area again heading into drought.

CHOONG-SIEW YONG: We know that when there's particular stresses in the local environment - and drought is one of the most severe and very enduring stress on people working in rural communities - then their mental health needs will go up and it's doubly important that they have good mental health care. We know that rates of suicide and depression are much higher in times of climatic stress.

NATALIE WHITING: But the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Ian Kamerman, says there should be a greater focus on tele-health to remove the need for travel.

IAN KAMERMAN: I think we need to be able to provide more services that way and getting psychiatrists also used to it as well I think is something that we need to be doing.

NATALIE WHITING: The Western Local Health District says it's confident the loss of the three visiting psychiatrists won't have an impact on the provision of services.

DAVID MARK: Natalie Whiting.

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