Increasing demand for for mental health help
People needing mental health services in the Nelson region are waiting several weeks for treatment, as providers struggle to keep up with the demand.
Nelson Marlborough Health recently allocated an additional $240,000 to primary mental health services across the district, $167,000 of which was allocated to the Nelson region.
Nelson Bays Primary Health chief executive Angela Francis said the primary health organisation (PHO) was thankful for the additional funding from the DHB as demand for mental heath services was steadily increasing.
‘‘The World Health Organisation say by 2025, depression will be the second largest health problem worldwide, we are just starting to see that trending through.’’
The PHO were funded to deliver 712 ‘‘packages’’ of mental health care each year and in the first six months of last year they had already seen 752 people.
The additional funding would go towards the existing primary mental health initiative, which refers people to contracted providers for counselling and therapy, and the brief intervention service, counselling support for those with mild to moderate mental health issues.
The PHO had been receiving almost 200 mental health referrals each month. That meant the waiting list for the brief intervention service was up to 10 weeks for people that needed help much sooner.
Nelson Bays Primary Health acting general manager of health services Karen Winton said demand had steadily grown over 2016, with 100 people on the waitlist after the Christmas break.
‘‘We have had to be very creative to try and reduce these numbers,’’ Winton said. ‘‘Our concern remains around providing early intervention within a reasonable time.’’
Winton said 30 of those had been referred onto other mental health providers so they could be seen sooner but there were still 70 people waiting to be seen.
‘‘Our counsellors are working at maximum capacity to attempt to see people as soon as possible.’’
They had also worked to reduce the waitlist to four weeks.
‘‘With this additional one-off funding, our plan is to further reduce this so we can see clients ideally within 2-3 weeks.’’
Nelson Marlborough Health general manager for mental health services Jane Kinsey said supporting primary care services to meet the mental health needs of the community was a priority.
The decision to allocate additional funding was in line with the feedback the health board received from the community on the draft Primary and Community Healthcare Strategy in October.
‘‘We are committed to continue to invest more in services which promote early intervention and services closer to home.’’
Life Linc Nelson clinical manager Harriet Denham said at the end of 2016, the wait list for counselling was eight weeks long and the organisation had begun to start charging a small fee for individual and couples counselling sessions.
She said the demand for mental health services was increasing at such a rate the organisation could not sustain itself as a free service anymore.
Denham said this year had gotten off to a slower start so the waiting list had reduced to four weeks. On average, its counsellors see 25 people a week.
She said funding was increasingly hard to come by as large providers like the Rata Foundation and Lotteries NZ were being approached by more and more organisations so there was less to go around.
Combined with government cuts, Denham said it made for an uncertain future.
‘‘We are treading water I suppose, it is not good enough really because it means our clients are treading water too.’’