Working group’s makeup criticised

WELLINGTON: Mental health advocates are slamming the makeup of a Ministry of Health working group to advise the Government on how to respond to the mental health and addiction inquiry.

Minister of Health David Clark was handed the report — initially due on October 31— yesterday. The report is 200 pages long and has 40 recommendations. The public will see it at a later date after the Government digests its findings.

The leadership team was announced in an email to stakeholders on November 13 from the Director of Mental Health, John Crawshaw, and Lakes District Health Board chief executive Ron Dunham. Mr Crawshaw and Mr Dunham are cochairmen of the group, which is named the Mental Health and Addiction Health Sector Leadership Group (HSLG).

The email referred to a meeting in late October where the group talked about the importance of ‘‘ensuring the programme is responsive to Maori and amplifies the voice of lived experience’’.

But advocates are concerned that of the 21member team there is only one representative for the voices of those with lived experience of mental distress, and no representative for family members. The email said the group ‘‘will not be a closed room’’ and would be wider than the 21 members, ‘‘though those people are the core membership of the HSLG’’.

The group would seek a broad range of voices and members would act as ‘‘connectors to channel perspectives, views and feedback’’.

‘‘They will link in through a range of forums and national, regional and local meetings to feed into the ministry’s advice to the Government.’’

The email also outlined a timeframe, saying ‘‘early in the new year we will be gathering feedback, collecting our thoughts and formalising our response to the inquiry findings’’.

‘‘From there, we will begin development of the longerterm plan to deliver on the direction agreed by Cabinet to respond to the recommendations of the inquiry.’’

It is unclear what the group’s role is in relation to the Mental Health Commissioner or if the Mental Health Com mission will be reestablished — an idea Labour floated on the campaign trail.

Former Mental Health Commissioner Mary O’Hagan said the mental health community was ‘‘pretty appalled’’ at the decision.

‘‘It was very preemptive of the Ministry of Health to establish a leadership group before they know the flavour of the recommendations [of the inquiry].’’

Eleven of the members represented DHBs, two represented the Maori community and one represented mental health and addiction NGOs, Ms O’Hagan said.

‘‘The group is dominated by DHBs and has just one person with lived experience on it. Why did the ministry set up a group like this? Maybe they are worried that health will no longer be at the hub of the new system and are trying to retain their power base.

‘‘Maybe they are deeply out of touch with the mood for change.’’

Ms O’Hagan said New Zealand had gone backwards in its approach to mental health, citing a 1989 national policy group she was on which committed to having no fewer than two people with lived experience on it.

‘‘If we were making progress the current group would be cochaired by a person with lived experience and have several of them on it. We are not going to take this any longer.’’

Ms O’Hagan, along with Changing Minds chief executive Taimi Allan, Tracey Cannon and Magdel Hammond, have founded a group called the Wellbeing Coalition Aotearoa as a way to hold the Government to account on the inquiry. — RNZ