Breakdown on 2017 Mental Health Spending Doesn’t Bode Well for NZ

This year’s Budget announcement has been packaged in such a way as to mislead the public that gaps in Mental Health will be addressed says Maternal Care Action Group’sspokeswoman Kristina Paterson.
The current Government has promised spending of $224M to Mental Health over a 4 year period.
“When you are quoting hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars over a 4 year period, it sounds good – it sounds like there is spending going in the right direction – but that is not the case. There has been a 60% increase in people needing mental health services, but funding to mental health has not kept up with demand.”

The 2017 Budget promises spending of $56M per year with no promise to reverse health funding cuts of $1.7bn in recent years. Of that $56M per year, $25M will go to DHB’s nationwide – roughly around $1M each year towards Mental Health for each DHB, and another $25 to “new initiatives.”

”When we divide that money to “new initiatives” nationwide, we end up with all community programmes fighting over $1M in their local region,” Ms Paterson says.

“I personally think National’s ‘Social Investment Package’ is good in theory and will benefit the vulnerable families that we represent but it will not increase access to mental health services if they're under-resourced or non-existent".

"I am all for the Family Start programme providing that wrap around support, however the expectation is that Family Start will help families to access existing mental health services. Already an average of 75% of women do not meet Maternal Mental Health criteria – so the only services available to help them become well would be medication from their GP and private, costly counselling. The Social Investment Package has to be supported by a fully functioning health and mental health system if it’s going to have the impact the Government is looking for.”

And it’s not only Mental Health that will be experiencing under funding, GP’s have estimated they are experiencing a $45M shortfall every year, yet this Budget is offering them just over $9.6M and DHB’s are experiencing a shortfall of $200M every year, yet they are being offered an extra $100M/yr in this year’s budget.

“Because this “new spending” does not address the $1.7bn deficit, what this means in real terms is that it’s likely that GP costs will go up, and our health and mental health services are likely to get worse than they already are. It’s like putting a band aid on a gaping wound and the result is that gaps will continue to grow wider.”

The Labour Party have announced that if elected, they would be committed to reversing the $1.7bn deficit in health spending and a full mental health review as requested by the People’s Mental Health Report within the first 100 days of being in office. As part of their commitment to reversing the $1.7bn deficit, Labour have announced spending of $45M on a two-year pilot programme providing mental health teams at GP practices, including increased access to counselling.

Ms Paterson thinks this is a good start: “We need to address spending deficits, but we also need to be investing in our primary mental health. We know that if we provide early intervention, it has better outcomes for those experiencing mental health issues, and it reduces demand on costly secondary services. If we don’t increase our spending on primary mental health services, we can expect an increase in demand on those services that are already struggling.”

Suicide rates in New Zealand have steadily climbed since 2013. There were 579 deaths by suicide in 2016 alone. Ms Paterson feels that this year’s budget will only serve to make that figure worse: “If we want to talk about suicide prevention, we must start with addressing gaps in our community’s and hospitals’ mental health services.”

ENDS

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