Health Minister Andrew Little says there's no need to "get dramatic" over a controversial mental health report, which arrived spectacularly late and with less information than previous years' editions.
But the Mental Health Foundation is alleging "either a cock-up or a conspiracy" at the Ministry of Health has resulted in a report missing key information on the state of the country's mental health services.
The annual report from the Office of the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services usually arrives annually, but the 2018 and 2019 reports weren't published on time, Stuff reporting they were subject to revisions and cuts by officials in the Ministry of Health. The document that eventually came out in March ended up covering both years, but was inexplicably shorter than previous reports.
"This was supposed to be an annual report, it comes out each year and gives us something to track," Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson told The AM Show on Thursday. "It's a bit of a stocktake. Things like wait times for services, number of people using DHB services, suicide stats, issues for some of the most vulnerable special patients - crucial stuff."
But he said the latest report was missing "a whole lot of stuff that's usually there".
"The emails that were revealed... shows an internal battle within the ministry where some staff were saying, 'No, we should be publishing this, this is public transparency,' and others were going, 'We need to put a risk management lens on this.'"
Documents and emails released under the Official Information Act to Stuff showed there was an internal battle at the Ministry of Health over how much information the report should contain and when it should come out. For example, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield okayed the 2018 report to come out early last year, but its release was held up by another high-ranking official.
Robinson said the Government's push to improve mental health services had brought in a lot of new people in recent years with little experience in the area, sidelining more experienced officials.
"It's either a cock-up or a conspiracy, and either way it doesn't look good."
Little, appearing on The AM Show right after Robinson, played down his concerns.
"Let's not get dramatic about it," he told host Duncan Garner, after being asked why officials were "fabricating a report that should tell the truth".
Little said the report isn't a statutory requirement, often arrives late and the amount of information it contains has "waxed and waned" in the 15 years it's been published. He said the decision to consolidate the 2018 and 2019 reports was made after COVID-19 hit.
Asked why officials made the call to leave information out, Little said there was only one figure missing which he hadn't received a satisfactory explanation for - how many people had died while under compulsory treatment orders.
But that - and the rest of the information "missing" from the report - is actually available elsewhere, he said.
"All the data that's in the report is publicly available. It appears in other publicly produced reports and it appears on that database. The allegation that somebody is trying to conceal something doesn't wash."
Little also agreed the delay in releasing the report was unnecessary, but did not believe there was "malicious intent" from anyone at the ministry.
'It has got worse'
Robinson said despite the funding the Government has put into mental health, the situation has gone backwards in the last few years.
"Overall it has got worse, there's no doubt that it's got worse. I think that the Government and the ministry underestimated the size of the problem. Right now today over a million people are struggling with their mental health."
He says it's because the Government is focused on creating new services to treat people suffering from poor mental health, rather than "top of the cliff" prevention.
"We're aiming to be constructive - it's not too late to change things. They haven't taken the full advice of their own mental health inquiry - they're putting all their eggs in the basket of trying to grow services, and they're never going to have enough services to meet this demand. They need to get into prevention and they need to get into empowering people with skills to look after their own mental health."
Little says funding new services to help mild to moderate cases was the first thing the inquiry recommended.
"That's what we've been doing. We've had 18 months to roll that out - roughly 400 new positions funded in GP clinics and community care clinics... in addition to that we've established the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, we didn't have that before; wee got the Suicide Prevention Office, they started last year... we've started the capital build programme for acute facilities.
"So 18 months in from when we started the work, actually there's plenty going on."
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
