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Matt Doocey: Mental Health Minister on the Access and Choice Programme missing its targets · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Cast your mind back to the last government, remember the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Access and Choice program that was set up in twenty nineteen,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: where the report has now been released on how it's going.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's been five years, it's found obviously we've still got
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: stuff to work on. It was set up back in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen as part of the so called well Being budget.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It was allocated six hundred and sixty four million dollars
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: for five years and then two hundred and nine million
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: per anim after that. So the Minister for Mental Health
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is now in charge of the whole thing, is Matt
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Doosey and he joins me. Now goodbeing to you, Matt
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: only Andrew, can you qualify the differences between now and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: five years ago after the introduction of this program? How
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: are we better? You know?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I think when you look at the data from the
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: report released today from the Mental Health Commission, we've seen
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a significant role out of the Access and Choice Program
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: within GP practices across the country where there is disappointment.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Has significantly missed its target. It's only delivered to about
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: two thirds of the three hundred and twenty five thousand
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: people that the goal was to serve. I've always been
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of the view that part of the issue we've seen
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: in mental health is we've always talked lofty goals, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: we've done very poorly an implementation, and that's why this
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: government was keen to have its first mental health minister.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: So we're focused on ensuring that that service has rolled
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: out properly and according to its target.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll just look at that. So the goal was
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to have psychological health services available to seventy percent of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: those enrolled with general practices, So you hit sixty eight percent.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: So the services are pretty much there according to the targets.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: But you hope to hit a goal of three hundred
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and twenty five thousand people getting the services a year.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: You hit two hundred and seven thousand, which is why
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: you say two thirds. So where's the problem? Education and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: people not realizing that the services are there to be used.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I think that it's partly true, Andrew. When you look
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: at the annual Health Survey people reporting mental health needs,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a third of them are reporting that they didn't know
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: where to go. But I think there's another thing happening here.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It's an utilization of the access and choice workforce. In opposition,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I was supportive of the model, but also critical it
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: does have an achilles heel where the warm handover and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the GP practice is a good model for ensuring someone
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: gets that timely support, but it does mean at times
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: and some practices that workforce is sitting there underutilized. So look,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I'll welcome the report from the Mental Health Commission. I
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: talked with him when I first came in that we
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: needed to do the five year review. Looking forward, I
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: think part of the solution is going to be digitizing
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the Access and Choice program, shifting it online so that'll
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: able the staff to have high utilization rates and see
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: more people.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And it may have something to do with the fact
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: that the GPS are so wildly overworked.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Well, this is a SEP service, it's actually funded directly
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: from the government, Noble.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: It go through the GPS. They then have to refer
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: they've got a fifteen minute window. But there we go. Look, hey, what.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: No, that's not necessarily true, Andrew, and that actually came
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: out in the report. What the core calling this variation
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: in the service and the pathways, So people don't actually
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: need to see the GP to be referred to the service.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: That is happening in some services. So addressing the variation
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: people can be seen straight by the service without going
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: through the GP.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And that's good and that's good, and that requires education
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: and those people who are suffering need to know that
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it's there. But of course that's suffering. Hey, so what's next?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: You know, the first rune of funding the six hundred
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and sixty four million dollars fully committed, fully spent. Then
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: they said there was going to be two hundred and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: nine million dollars a year available going forward.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Is that still available, Yes, that funding is still available.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: It's part of the Protected Ring Fence for Mental health
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: and addiction. Funding this year will spend two point six billion.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: So what I want to see is that program rolled
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: out further. We want to hit its target of seeing
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty five thousand people. Not only that,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: One of my first targets I've set five targets for
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: mental health, first time in New Zealand would have mental
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: health targets is for people to be seen within one
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: week of the service. So I want more people to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: be seen and seen quicker.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Matt, good luck and I thank you so much for
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: your time today. Matt Doocy, who is the Minister for
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Mental Health.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge listen live
• 4:14
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• 4:17
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