June 07, 2024
Mental health services short of workers
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Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission chair Hayden Wano says the nature of mental stress is changing.
The commission has released a review covering the past five years which raised flags about the state of the mental health and addiction workforce and the impact of shortages on specialist services.
The commission Te Hiringa Mahara has recommended Health New Zealand develop a comprehensive health and addiction workforce plan so organisations aren’t competing for the same limited pool of workers, and also look at different ways of doing the work.
Whanau say even if they can get into the system, it’s not meeting all their needs.
“It’s not a well-coordinated service response people are getting so access to specialist services, access to youth, rangatahi services, growing waiting lists there. Quite a complex issue but at the heart of it is a system that needs to respond to the more comprehensive needs of our whanau,” Mr Wano says.