Funding plea for stretched services

Funding for frontline mental health services in the region is not keeping pace with the surging demand, health professionals say.

Nelson Bays Primary Health chief executive Angela Francis told a board meeting this week she was ‘‘bitterly disappointed’’ with a projected increase in funding for mental health services.

‘‘It is very poor given the demand,’’ Francis said. ‘‘It has barely kept pace with inflation.’’

The primary health organisation offers two services for those with mild to moderate mental health problems – the primary mental health initiative and the brief intervention service. Patients are referred to the services by their GP or a Maori health provider.

The PHO receives its funding from the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board. There was a $90,000 difference in the projected funding and $20,000 of that was earmarked for a mental health management role that had become a full time position.

Under the primary mental health initiative, people are referred to contracted counsellors, psychologists and psychotherapists who provide between three to six sessions.

The brief intervention service offers counselling support for those aged 16 and over and was staffed by three clinicians based in the Richmond Health Hub.

Between July 2016 and June 2017, there were 2054 people seen by the primary mental health initiative and a further 1387 people were seen by the brief intervention service.

The PHO were only funded to deliver 701 ‘‘packages’’ of mental health care.

In February, the waiting list for the brief intervention service was up to 10 weeks while the PHO received close to 200 referrals each month for people that needed help much sooner.

Francis said when she visited GP practices, the number one complaint was that doctors wanted more funding to provide mental health support.

Due to the increase in demand, the PHO had reconfigured the primary mental health initiative in order to see more patients.

Instead of offering four sessions for each individual, it had reduced the number to three which enabled more people to be seen overall.

‘‘My concern again is, do you want us to cut it back to two sessions per client? It should be four sessions per client. Now we are down to three sessions per client because we are just trying to make it work.’’

Following a recent review of mental health services at the DHB, Francis said there was an indication that more funding would be devolved to primary care but it appeared that wasn’t the case.

She said the current level of funding didn’t meet the need in the community and the PHO would write to the DHB to inform it of the situation.

‘‘We need to prevent our patients moving on to need for secondary services.’’

Board member and GP Sue Stubbs said the demand for mental health services was clear.

‘‘We are seeing a lot of distress, it doesn’t necessarily form a mental health diagnosis but we still have to manage that distress and that is what we need support for.’’

However, Francis said distress left unabated combined with a six week wait for services could be a precursor for a mental health condition.

Board chair John Hunter said it would write to Nelson Marlborough Health in the hope the funding could be renegotiated.

‘‘Mental health was high on the Labour agenda and there could be some relief for the DHB.’’