1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,759 Speaker 1: Another weighty tome awaited me has arrived at three this morning. 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: Pages and pages entitled monitoring Mental health and Addiction system 3 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: performance in New Zealand. Excuse me. Fatal drug overdoses are 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: up eighty eight percent between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty three. 5 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: Sixteen thousand fewer people access special the services. Suicide rate 6 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: is not going down. 7 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 2: Now. 8 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: Karen Osborne is the Mental Health and Well Being Commissioned 9 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: CEO and is with us. Karen morning, Good morning, mind. 10 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: There's two things sixteen thousand fewer people accessing special services 11 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: that lack of demand or lack of service. 12 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 2: Look, that's not a lack of demand. What we're seeing 13 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 2: is that demand is increasing. And what we're seeing in 14 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 2: terms of access to specialist mentals and addiction services that 15 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,279 Speaker 2: there are constraints primarily around workforce, but we know that 16 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 2: the people accessing those services also have higher levels of need. 17 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: Okay, when we say suicide rates not going down, is 18 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: that good? Is it plateauing? 19 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 2: Oh? Look, we'd certainly like to see the suicide rates 20 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 2: are reduced. There's a range of multiple factors that contribute 21 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: into that suicide rate, primarily factors that sit within the 22 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 2: sort of community and the broader sort of well being aspects. 23 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, but if it's not going down, it's plateauing. And 24 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: that's good, isn't it. Don't We want to be as 25 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: optimistic as we can. 26 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 2: Of look for sure, but we'd like to see that 27 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: coming down. And what we've done with this report is 28 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: bringing you to some of those measures of outcomes from 29 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 2: the mental health and addiction system, recognizing the system has 30 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 2: a contribution, but also the wider factors in society, such 31 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 2: as a pandemic, also impact on those mental health well 32 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 2: I was going on. 33 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: That was the funny enough next question, so overdoses between 34 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and twenty twenty three as tragic as what's 35 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: the matter? I mean, it's been and gone. What's the 36 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: point I mean, apart from collating the data, what's the 37 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: point of what does it tell us? 38 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 2: Oh? Look, this tells us what the outcomes are for 39 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 2: New Zealanders in terms of mental health and well being outcomes. 40 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 2: What we want to do is to look at those outcomes, 41 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 2: track those over time, but also say how does the 42 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 2: system need to improve to actually see positive shifts in 43 00:01:58,240 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 2: those measures? 44 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: What happened to the one point nine billion dollars in 45 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: the well being budget the Grant Robertson so famously and 46 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: loudly gave this sector. 47 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 2: Oh look, we did a deep, quite detailed report on 48 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,959 Speaker 2: the one point nine billion last year and the majority 49 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 2: of that money was spent for the purposes that it 50 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 2: was allocated to. There was about one point one that 51 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 2: went to health and that was over four years, and 52 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 2: the majority of that went into our Access and Choice program, 53 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 2: which we also reported on earlier this year. You and 54 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 2: I spoke about that back in April. 55 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: But did it do anything substantive or is it just 56 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 1: that was one point nine billion that went to the 57 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: right area but achieved little if your numbers are accurate. 58 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 2: Yep, Look, it went to the right areas and it 59 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 2: has had some impacts. We know the Access and Choice 60 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 2: program has had some positive impacts to increase that access 61 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 2: to that early intervention, primary and community services. It's not 62 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 2: at the levels it needs to be, so they needs 63 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 2: to be that push to get it to where it 64 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 2: needs to be. But what we're really seeing are concerned 65 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: about is that access to specialist mental health addiction services. 66 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 2: So the real workforce constraints and what we're seeing as 67 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 2: high vacancy rates, particularly for special staff and psychiatrists and 68 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 2: that has a big impact on the system. So that's 69 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 2: where we really want to see some fast action. 70 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: Karen, appreciate your time as always, Karen Osborne, who's the 71 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: Mental Health and well Being Commissioned CEO. 72 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 2: For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to 73 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 2: news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow 74 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.