Holding a mirror up to the mental health and addiction system

“Our new system performance monitoring report highlights the need for faster improvements to address declining mental health and wellbeing,” said Karen Orsborn, CEO of Te Hiringa Mahara – Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.

The System Performance Monitoring Report released today by Te Hiringa Mahara outlines progress toward improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders and shows the need to speed up much needed improvements across the system.

“Efforts to improve the system over the past six years have shown some early positive movement however these changes are not yet extensive enough to drive improvement at the scale and pace we need,” said Karen Orsborn. 

“It has been 7 years since the landmark He Ara Oranga report in 2018. Our report shows that while there are pockets of positive change, the system has got a significant way to go to achieve the outcomes people expect.” 

“Peer support services for example have seen an increase since 2018 with greater investment in the peer and lived experience workforce. There has also been an increase in kaupapa Māori specialist mental health and addiction services since 2018, but this has yet to reach representation of Māori accessing specialist services overall”.

“There have been gains, with significant improvements to access for people seeking mental health and addiction support through a GP or other primary care services, however we are very concerned about the continued downward trend in the number of people being seen by specialist mental health and addiction services over the last few years”.

“There continues to be significant unmet need for professional help for mental health among young people, Māori, Pacific peoples and disabled adults.”

“As the independent monitor of mental health and wellbeing we have provided a shared view of what a good mental health and addiction system looks like. The system shifts that are needed to achieve the vision of He Ara Oranga are clear”.  

“This will rely on having meaningful lived experience leadership, services meeting the highest needs, respect for human rights, along with achieving both equitable access and outcomes from services to name a few”. 

“What we need to see is improvement toward these shifts across the whole system. We are calling for an acceleration of collective efforts with the whole sector working towards the same ends. An important step is for the Government’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy to reflect this thinking.”

“We can’t rely on small changes to improve outcomes for people – it will take commitment to changes across the board. We want to see outcomes achieved when we look back at the 10-year mark of He Ara Oranga in 2028. What we have developed shows how we can get there.  However, it must now be acted on.”

The new system performance monitoring approach complements the Commission’s existing service and wellbeing outcomes monitoring. In developing the six shifts we weighed up the contribution of key government inputs such as investment, legislation, policies, leadership, and workforce play, alongside services. 

The approach Te Hiringa Mahara has brought together builds on previous recommendations and strategies, including the Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (He Ara Oranga Report).

The new report describes progress using data taken from a variety of sources. This first report is an initial step assessing performance and will be further refined in coming years. We will continue monitoring system performance and recommend improvements.

“We are holding a mirror up to the system. When people working in the system have a clear idea of how things are progressing it helps to keep the focus on where improvements must be made,” Ms Orsborn said.