What’s up at office to prevent suicide?
A week is a long time in politics – but for the Ministry of Health’s suicide-prevention office, a lot happened in three days.
On Thursday, a consultation document was released proposing to disestablish 271 roles at the Ministry of Health, and create 137 new ones. It was reported that could see the end to the Suicide Prevention Office as it is now, its establishment one of the recommendations in the Government’s 2018 inquiry into mental health.
The Public Service Association labelled it as “cold-hearted and dangerous”, while the ministry was adamant suicide prevention remained a priority.
Documents seen by The Press show four roles in the unit were proposed to be disestablished – two of those already vacant. Another two adviser roles would undergo “minor change”, while it appeared the last two roles were fixed term and already ending.
In the proposal document, there were six new roles proposed in the “Mental Health, Addiction and Suicide Prevention” team. One of those was around drug checking, another on addiction strategy, another described as a group manager for mental health, addiction and suicide prevention. “The proposal is to integrate the dedicated suicide-prevention expertise into the relevant functional groups within of the clinical, community and mental health directorate,” of Mental Health Deputy Director-General Robyn Shearer said at the time. “The mental health and addiction team within the Ministry of Health will be continuing to lead the suicide-prevention action plan and its work programme.“
Shearer said the work of the team changed since the funding and contracts transitioned to Health NZ, and the ministry would “continue to monitor progress on suicide prevention as it has done”.
Later that day, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the closure of the office “has not been raised with me and I have spoken with the Director-General of Health to make my expectations clear that the office will remain open”. “Mental health and suicide prevention is an absolute priority for this Government.”
On Saturday, the ministry in a statement apologised for the “confusion”. In it Shearer reiterated Doocey’s expectation the office remained open, and “as a result, we are developing options to work through with the minister early next week”. Shearer said it “has never been a standalone office”, and was a “small team” in the the mental health and addiction area. Following the 2022 health reforms, the office had a focus on “strategy, policy, regulation and monitoring the outcomes achieved by the system as a whole”.
“The proposals that Ministry of Health staff are being consulted on include bringing together suicide-prevention expertise with the expertise of our lived experience, system insights and clinical teams,” Shearer said.