Source: New Zealand Government
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says the Government’s five mental health and addiction targets provide a foundation to build on in the first quarter of reporting, but the data highlights there is still plenty of work to do, particularly in key regions.
“I am glad to see 80 per cent of Kiwis are receiving access to specialist mental health and addiction services within three weeks. This represents significant work across the sector and is hugely commendable,” Mr Doocey says.
“We know that New Zealanders need faster access to mental health services. Today’s announcement is the first baseline which will help drive improvements in services delivered across the country.
“While the nationwide picture is on the right track, drilling down to regional data shows certain groups are well below the target, such as Greater Wellington, where only 68.8 per cent of adults are seen for a specialist mental health appointment within three-weeks.
“I am concerned by the access to services for under 25s in a number of districts. For example, only around 48 per cent of under 25-year-olds in Nelson Marlborough were seen for a specialist appointment within the three-week time frame.
“Significant work is also required to lower the time people who present to emergency departments spend waiting for mental health and addiction related support. Only around 63 per cent of people who presented to ED with mental health and addiction-related concerns were seen within six hours, against a target of 95 per cent.
“Data for this target shows Greater Wellington at around 35 per cent, and Counties Manukau at around 40 per cent, showing the scale of the task. Support at these locations has already been bolstered by my peer support specialists in ED initiative.
“Nationally the target has been met for 80 per cent receiving primary mental health and addiction services through the Access and Choice programme within three weeks. This programme provides free face to face mental health and addiction support in more than 650 locations around the country. But in areas like Southern (around 66 per cent) and Bay of Plenty (70 per cent) access rates need to improve.
“As New Zealand’s first Minister for Mental Health, I am clear that accountability is vital. These targets should drive faster access and enable us to identify where the mental health and addiction system needs the most support.”
Notes to editors:
· More detail on the health and mental health and addiction targets can be found here.
· This is the first time the data has been collected and presented in this way. Work is needed to improve data collection, quality, and completeness. Some of the measures are new, so monitoring and reporting will be introduced iteratively and become more robust and complete over time, as a result some of the data may be subject to change.
· A further detail breakdown will be available when Health NZ publish the Q1 reporting.
· The reporting against the targets coincides with the publication of high-level implementation plans, which set out how Health New Zealand intends to make progress on achieving them by 2030.
· The target of ‘strengthened focus on prevention and early intervention’ will be reported on an annual basis in the second quarter.
