On the face of it, the government’s recently announced targets for improving mental health care are laudable. But without more detail about how those targets will be achieved – and funded – New Zealand’s struggling mental health sector is still running on hope.
The new targets announced by Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey include 80% of people accessing specialist services being seen within three weeks and 95% of people seen for mental heath needs at an emergency department being seen and discharged or transferred within six hours.
The government has also promised to train 500 professionals each year and to allocate 25% of funding to prevention and early intervention.
