Te Huringa: Mental Health and Addiction Service Monitoring Reports

Te Huringa Tuarua: Mental Health and Addiction Service Monitoring Reports 2023

Key information 

Te Hiringa Mahara is producing a series of four monitoring reports Te Huringa Tuarua in 2023.

The reports are the mental health and addiction service monitoring report, accompanied by three focus reports on:

• youth services
• kaupapa Māori services
• compulsory community treatment orders.

Mental health and addiction service monitoring report - Te Pūrongo Aroturuki i te Ratonga Hauora Hinengaro me te Waranga - 31 May 2023

This mental health and addiction service monitoring report is the main report that monitors across the breadth of national-level data. It aims to show what is working well and what isn’t in mental health and addiction services, how this has changed over time, and advocate for improvements.

This report uses a wide range of data to monitor service performance, along with other published information, and case-studies from exemplar organisations.

Overall there has been good progress with investment and increased access to primary services, although there has been a reduction in access to specialist services, increased prescribing and little or no change on many other measures

In addition:

• Fewer people used specialist services, primary mental health initiatives, telehealth and online services than the previous year, but many people are accessing new services being rolled out under the Access and Choice programme.
• Workforce vacancies in specialist adult mental health and addiction services have doubled between 2018 and 2022, and we want to see a clear strategy and roadmap to address growing workforce shortages.
• Coercive practices continue to be widely used, particularly for Māori and Pacific peoples. All services need to urgently address these inequities, and we want to see more by Māori, for Māori approaches, such as kaupapa Māori services
• There have been substantial increases in medication dispensing, particularly for young people, and this warrants investigation whether young people have a full range of treatment options available.

This report is accompanied by supplementary data tables including a subset of measures, and soon we will release our online dashboard with the full measure set. The subset of measures included in the supplementary data tables were chosen to support the report’s key findings.

Read the report [PDF, 18 MB]

Youth services focus report - Admission of young people to adult inpatient mental health services | Pūrongo arotahi ratonga taiohi - Te whakauru i ngā taiohi ki ngā ratonga hauora hinengaro pakeke ā-hōhipera - 17 May 2023

This report is the first of a series of monitoring reports that Te Hiringa Mahara is publishing in 2023.

This report examines the trends in admitting young people (aged 12 to 17 years) to adult inpatient mental health services in New Zealand and reflects on perspectives gained from discussions with young people, whānau and family.

We want to see zero admissions of young people to adult inpatient mental health services.

Achieving zero admissions of young people into adult inpatient services will not be easy. We need genuine commitment, leadership, and a comprehensive plan to make this happen. It is not too late to start, but we certainly cannot afford to wait.

At the heart of this report are young people and whānau who shared their experiences of adult inpatient mental health services. It is for them and future generations that we stand up for a better future of mental health support.

There must be investment in youth-specific acute alternatives, including kaupapa Māori services - residential alternatives to hospital based inpatient mental health care and short-term respite care. These services can provide appropriate treatment, and a supportive culture, where young people are safe and have hope for the future.

Read the report. [PDF, 6.4 MB]