There's a few 0800 numbers, e.g. Lifeline, which you can call and it seems to be the most popular solution apart from self-help websites, that doctors refer you to these days. I nice that those orgs provide these services, however I don't see them as sufficient in any way for someone with serious depression and nothing we should rely on as the main response. You get someone to talk to, which might better you a bit in a bad situation, but it does not replace therapy. There's no single councellour dealing with you, no follow up on where you left off last time you spoke...you talk to whoever is available at the time and end up repeating your story from scratch again and again...you might end up feeling better, but the chance is you feel even more hopeless due to the repetitive nature and no progress. Distribution of Medication is the lesser issue in my opinion. Any GP can prescribe them, however it's too often seen as the only way to help people and distributed as a quick fix. Most often it's not. First of all, none of the antidepressants works quickly, none of them works for everyone...what helps one person might make someone else feel even worse. It can be a long process of trial and error. Benzodiazipines are given out without enough warning about their addictive nature imo. I've had them in states of extreme anxiety and at the time they are great...they work quick and you feel fine for the next hours...but your body builds up tolerance quickly and you will need a higher dose quickly. Once you're off them, you're back in the same **** as before, unless you manage to use those better periods to work towards feeling better, something that is way easier, if you receive therapy that helps you with it. I've seen people who received Benzo prescriptions for a year or longer, before they were taken off them frome one day to the next...Zombies would describe some of them in the withdrawal stage pretty well, others turned to the black market to continue feeding their addiction. One of them was on 40-50 pills a day before he was sent to rehab - I took 1 a day in my worst stages and made it clear from the beginning that I do not want to have them prescribed to me for more than 2 weeks, knowing of what they can do to you long term.
The main thing lacking in my opinion is the affordable access to both stationary and ambulant therapy and councelling services. Clinics where people can stay for a few weeks with daily 1on1 and group therapy sessions without trying to cope with their day to day struggles on top of the depression are common overseas and covered by public or private health insurance, but almost non-existent here. The two or three private ones I'm aware of, you need to be filthy rich to pay for.
Private ambulant therapy sessions are easier to find - at least, if you can afford to pay 100-200/hr over a longer period of time for a Psychotherapist or counselor - plus you need to find one that works for you first. If you do find one and can afford it, it's the best thing available over here imo.
Unfortunately health insurance coverage for mental health is beyond a joke. Mine, which is by far not the worst, has an allowance that covers the cost of approx. 2.5 visits to a Psychiatrist annually, while I could spend hundreds of thousands to fix serious physical illnesses.