Matt Doocey: Mental Health Minister on the Access and Choice Programme missing its targets

The Government's highlighted an Achilles' heel with a $664 million mental health programme that's missing targets. 

Labour's 2019 'Wellbeing' Budget saw the Access and Choice Programme receive its funding over five years. 

It's aiming to support 325 thousand people per year, but during 2023-24 saw just over 207 thousand.  

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey told Andrew Dickens utilization is a weak point. 

He says a warm handover to GPs is good for those who need to be seen urgently, but it means there's a workforce being under used. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cast your mind back to the last government, remember the
Access and Choice program that was set up in twenty nineteen,
where the report has now been released on how it's going.
It's been five years, it's found obviously we've still got
stuff to work on. It was set up back in
twenty nineteen as part of the so called well Being budget.
It was allocated six hundred and sixty four million dollars
for five years and then two hundred and nine million

(00:22):
per anim after that. So the Minister for Mental Health
is now in charge of the whole thing, is Matt
Doosey and he joins me. Now goodbeing to you, Matt
only Andrew, can you qualify the differences between now and
five years ago after the introduction of this program? How
are we better? You know?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I think when you look at the data from the
report released today from the Mental Health Commission, we've seen
a significant role out of the Access and Choice Program
within GP practices across the country where there is disappointment.
Has significantly missed its target. It's only delivered to about
two thirds of the three hundred and twenty five thousand

(00:58):
people that the goal was to serve. I've always been
of the view that part of the issue we've seen
in mental health is we've always talked lofty goals, but
we've done very poorly an implementation, and that's why this
government was keen to have its first mental health minister.
So we're focused on ensuring that that service has rolled
out properly and according to its target.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, we'll just look at that. So the goal was
to have psychological health services available to seventy percent of
those enrolled with general practices, So you hit sixty eight percent.
So the services are pretty much there according to the targets.
But you hope to hit a goal of three hundred
and twenty five thousand people getting the services a year.
You hit two hundred and seven thousand, which is why
you say two thirds. So where's the problem? Education and

(01:41):
people not realizing that the services are there to be used.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I think that it's partly true, Andrew. When you look
at the annual Health Survey people reporting mental health needs,
a third of them are reporting that they didn't know
where to go. But I think there's another thing happening here.
It's an utilization of the access and choice workforce. In opposition,
I was supportive of the model, but also critical it

(02:06):
does have an achilles heel where the warm handover and
the GP practice is a good model for ensuring someone
gets that timely support, but it does mean at times
and some practices that workforce is sitting there underutilized. So look,
I'll welcome the report from the Mental Health Commission. I
talked with him when I first came in that we

(02:27):
needed to do the five year review. Looking forward, I
think part of the solution is going to be digitizing
the Access and Choice program, shifting it online so that'll
able the staff to have high utilization rates and see
more people.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
And it may have something to do with the fact
that the GPS are so wildly overworked.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, this is a SEP service, it's actually funded directly
from the government, Noble.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
It go through the GPS. They then have to refer
they've got a fifteen minute window. But there we go. Look, hey, what.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
No, that's not necessarily true, Andrew, and that actually came
out in the report. What the core calling this variation
in the service and the pathways, So people don't actually
need to see the GP to be referred to the service.
That is happening in some services. So addressing the variation
people can be seen straight by the service without going
through the GP.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
And that's good and that's good, and that requires education
and those people who are suffering need to know that
it's there. But of course that's suffering. Hey, so what's next?
You know, the first rune of funding the six hundred
and sixty four million dollars fully committed, fully spent. Then
they said there was going to be two hundred and
nine million dollars a year available going forward.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Is that still available, Yes, that funding is still available.
It's part of the Protected Ring Fence for Mental health
and addiction. Funding this year will spend two point six billion.
So what I want to see is that program rolled
out further. We want to hit its target of seeing
three hundred and twenty five thousand people. Not only that,
One of my first targets I've set five targets for

(03:54):
mental health, first time in New Zealand would have mental
health targets is for people to be seen within one
week of the service. So I want more people to
be seen and seen quicker.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Matt, good luck and I thank you so much for
your time today. Matt Doocy, who is the Minister for
Mental Health.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
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