Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has fiercely defended the vexed results of the Government's $1.9 billion mental health investment in 2019.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission's review last month found there had been no change in access to specialist mental health services in five years despite the billion-dollar cash injection.
The review also found that wait times for mental health services had not decreased over the past five years, and wait times for addiction services were longer.
National leader Christopher Luxon in Parliament on Tuesday said the Government had a "responsibility to actually deliver outcomes" when spending taxpayer money.
"How has the Government managed to spend $1.9 billion more on mental health but after three years has delivered no change in access to acute and specialist mental health services, and is this an acceptable outcome for spending that much taxpayer money?"
Ardern acknowledged that access to specialist mental health services required improvement but she said the Government had focussed on building up primary care first.
"The very specific focus that came from those who had experience of the system and those who worked in the system was the complete absence of primary mental health care. That was adding extra pressure to acute needs," Ardern said.
"That is why we have built a primary mental health system for the first time in New Zealand's history. It is providing tens of thousands of appointments for New Zealanders who previously had no access to early mental health support.
"At the same time, we know we need to continue to build tertiary acute care. It's a particular focus for us to build the workforce, which in some cases takes up to five years to create."
The Government last month launched a new two-year recruitment campaign to bring on more mental health nurses.
More than 200 new-entry places for registered nurses to specialise in mental health have been funded from the $77 million workforce development fund, part of Budget 2019, and it's hoped the campaign could help double that number.
Luxon also criticised the results of the Government's $25 million fund for free mental health services for tertiary students announced in 2020, which has delivered just 304 counselling sessions in 18 months. As at the end of January, under $4 million of the money had been spent.
Ardern returned fire by attacking National's record.
"Calculating based on the entirety of a programme of care across providers by those early counselling sessions that have been provided, is exactly the reason that that member's party in office did nothing to support tertiary students, to support young people, to create primary mental health care," Ardern said.
"If that is the way we calculate care in this community for mental health needs, that explains why there was no investment before us."
While there were some positive conclusions in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission's review - including that use of telehealth and digital support has increased along with access to primary mental health services - it also found that wait times have gotten longer for young people.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Board chair Hayden Wano said despite significant investment in mental health and addiction services in 2019, "improvements in services have not materialised as we had hoped for over this time".
Ardern argued that her Government had delivered for young people.
She pointed to Mana Ake, a mental health programme that has supported more than 7000 children across Canterbury and Kaikōura since 2018. In April last year, it was expanded to Northland, Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and West Coast.
"We've provided primary mental health care for New Zealanders across the country," Ardern said.
"We're now providing rainbow communities with the mental health care they need through specialist providers and now we are also providing youth care through increased support for youth helplines and through tertiary education.
"These services didn't exist before."
