Ngā aroturuki i te ratonga mō te hauora hinengaro me ngā waranga Mental health and addiction service monitoring

Details about our mental health and addiction service monitoring reports published since 2022 are available on this page.

Kua Tīmata Te Haerenga | The Journey Has Begun: Mental health and addiction monitoring report 2024

Kua Tīmata Te Haerenga | The Journey Has Begun is our 2024 mental health services and addiction services monitoring report. This report specifically focuses on access to services and options available. It monitors publicly funded mental health and addiction services and emergency responses over the five years from July 2018 to June 2023. A wide amount of data and information (qualitative and quantitative) was used to develop this report.

The report shows that service access has increased in some parts of the system but decreased in others. The new Access and Choice programme in primary care has increased access and expanded options for people with mild to moderate mental health and addiction needs. However, access to specialist services has decreased, with people reporting challenges accessing these services. These changes in service use are due to the increasing complexity of needs in those accessing specialist services, along with increased pressure on specialist services due to workforce challenges. 

The report calls for urgent action by Government and health agencies to accelerate improvement in a range of critical areas. The report makes five recommendations:

  1. Health NZ develops a mental health and addiction workforce plan to address service capacity and workforce shortages by June 2025 (inclusive of clinical, peer and cultural workforces, Māori and lived experience leadership, and across primary, community, and specialist services). 
  2. Health NZ develops an action plan by June 2025 to meet the needs of Māori and whānau accessing specialist mental health and addiction services. 
  3. Health NZ provides guidance for the delivery of effective acute community options tailored to meet the needs of rangatahi and youth by June 2025. 
  4. Health NZ develops a mental health and addiction data plan by June 2025 that ensures information systems are integrated and enables collection of quality and timely data. 
  5. Government commits to funding a planned programme of work to collect mental health and addiction prevalence data by June 2025, to enable improved services and ensure value for money. 

The report is supported by a Voices report (thematic analysis of qualitative data gathered) and an updated online dashboard. 

Te Huringa Tuarua: Mental Health and Addiction Service Monitoring Reports 2023

Te Hiringa Mahara produced a series of monitoring reports Te Huringa Tuarua in 2023.  The series focuses on youth services, Compulsory Community Treatment Orders, Kaupapa Māori Services, and mental health and addiction services.

Lived experiences of compulsory community treatment orders report | Ngā mātau ā-wheako o te whakahau maimoatanga hapori e whakaturehia ana - 12 July 2023

This report looks at compulsory community treatment orders (CCTOs) made under section 29 of the Mental Health Act 1992. The focus is on amplifying voices of tāngata whaiora, whānau, and family. 

Kaupapa Māori services report | Te pūrongo ratonga kaupapa Māori  - 27 June 2023

The report provides an overview of investment into kaupapa Māori mental health and addiction services, sheds light on the significant disparities faced by Māori in mental health outcomes, and calls for the need for change to address these inequities.

Mental health and addiction service monitoring report | Te Pūrongo Aroturuki i te Ratonga Hauora Hinengaro me te Waranga - 31 May 2023

This mental health and addiction service monitoring report is the main report that monitors across the breadth of national-level data. It aims to show what is working well and what isn’t in mental health and addiction services, how this has changed over time, and advocate for improvements.

Youth services focus report - Admission of young people to adult inpatient mental health services | Pūrongo arotahi ratonga taiohi - Te whakauru i ngā taiohi ki ngā ratonga hauora hinengaro pakeke ā-hōhipera - 17 May 2023

This report is the first of a series of monitoring reports that Te Hiringa Mahara is publishing in 2023. It examines the trends in admitting young people (aged 12 to 17 years) to adult inpatient mental health services in New Zealand and reflects on perspectives gained from discussions with young people, whānau and family.

Te Huringa: Mental Health and Addiction Service Monitoring Reports 2022

Te Huringa 2022 was our first mental health services and addiction services monitoring report. It shows the performance of mental health services and addiction services between 2016-2017 and 2020-2021. The report covers mental health services and addiction services funded by the public health system, including:

  • Primary mental health services and addiction services that are provided within a general practice including general practitioner (GP) or nurse consultations, psychological interventions, cognitive behavioural therapy, medication reviews, counselling, other psychosocial interventions and group therapy.
  • Specialist mental health services and addiction services for people experiencing moderate to severe mental illness or psychological distress. This includes acute inpatient services, community-based services, talking therapies, and forensic services.

The report shows that there has been little evidence of improvement in services or changes in wait times for specialist mental health services over the past five years. Wait times for young people to access specialist mental health services continue to be well below target and wait times for addiction services have increased over the past five years.

Despite calls in 2018 from He Ara Oranga to minimise coercive treatment, our measures show an increase in the use of solitary confinement (seclusion) and no decrease in the use of community treatment orders.

Te Huringa 2022 report downloads

Our first Mental Health and Addiction Service Monitoring Report published in March 2022.

  • Report