Long delays in mental health care
If a Hutt Valley teen was seeking a non-urgent mental health appointment, they would have to hang on for at least eight weeks.
That’s the next available appointment for 12- to 19-year-olds in the area, where an independent review has found gaping holes in the service.
In May, there was a lag time of six months between initial contact with the Hutt Valley District Health Board’s (HVDHB) infant, child, adolescent and family mental health service (ICAFS) and a follow-up appointment, the report found.
‘‘There is a general sense of families not coping, no real resources in the community to support children and families and very little early intervention – things are left to get to a high level of distress which then increases the number of acute presentations to services,’’ one unnamed stakeholder said in the report.
The report, by Auckland health consultancy firm Chiplin Consulting, was commissioned by the HVDHB in April after startling Ministry of Health data revealed wait times were stretching beyond eight weeks for a third of people 19 and under.
As well as poor follow-up rates, key areas of concern included the use of part paper, part electronic records, massive lag times in recruiting core staff, no culturally specific approaches for youth, and issues with the service being located at Hutt Hospital.
Staff said the clinical location ran the risk of ‘‘medicalising emotional and behavioural concerns’’ and reported the building was unfit for purpose.
The report recommended the ICAFS service be either relocated to community bases in both Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt, or creating a central community base to provide services at locations across the Hutt. There was also a need for a plan around approaches for Ma¯ ori and Pasifika people.
Consultation had begun with staff regarding the recommendations, general manager of the Wellington region’s mental health service, Nigel Fairley, said.
Dr John Crawshaw, national director of mental health, said the ministry will be monitoring the DHB’s implementation of the review.
Young people who needed an urgent appointment were currently seen within two days, Fairley, said. But regarding nonurgent appointments, he said: ‘‘Despite recent efforts, the wait times for some services are longer than our community should reasonably expect.’’
For a child up to 13-years-old at Hutt Valley DHB, the next available non-urgent appointment was in two weeks, or eight weeks for people aged between 12 and 19.
The months from July to November were typically the busiest for mental health teams across the country, including Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHBs, Fairley said.
The national Ministry of Health target stipulates 80 per cent of people should be seen within three weeks.
"There is a general sense of families not coping, no real resources in the community to support children and families and very little early intervention – things are left to get to a high level of distress which then increases the number of acute presentations to services."
Unnamed stakeholder in report