The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission's released a report showing how funding from the 2019 Wellbeing Budget has been spent.
It shows 92% of the $1.9 billion has been spent or committed.
There's around $163 million that is unspent, and almost $62 million was set aside for capital works.
Chief Executive Karen Orsborn says they know there's a high degree of public interest in the funding, so they wanted to make that information available.
She says 57% —1.1-billion— went to health, and $800 million went to other government agencies.
Orsborn told Kerre Woodham that they’ve heard from people who have been using the services, as well as those in the sector, that the money has made a real difference.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the carry wood of morning's podcast from
News Talk st B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're finally getting some insight into where the one point
nine billion dollars from the twenty nineteen wellbeing budget was spent.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commissions released a report showing
ninety two percent of the one point nine million has
been spent or committed. That's around one hundred and sixty
three million unspent. Almost sixty two million has been set
(00:33):
aside for capital works. Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Chief
Executive Karen Osborne joins me now and a very good
morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning Carrie.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You can spend money, but has it done any good?
How do you measure the effect of the investment into
mental wellbeing?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yes, but that's a really good question. And in this
report we suddenly describe how the money was allocated and
how much of that money has been spent. And what
we can also see is the numbers of people who
have been able to access services using this investment. And
there's some quite significant numbers of people, particularly in that
(01:14):
Access and Choice program, which was the main spend in
the house part of this allocation. And so we've heard
from people have been using services and also the sector
that that money has made a real difference. But it
will take time to have that program fully rolled up
out so it's not fully rolled out yet, but also
(01:35):
then to be able to say what is the impact
and has it made a difference in terms of outcomes
for people. So we're working on how we'll make those assessments,
but it's still early days.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
That is such a lot of money, and it is
such a lot of money, and it could have made
such a difference, and one would hope that when it
all comes out in the wash, that it has, but
I rather fear there are still significant groups of people
whose needs go on met. I mean all very well
(02:08):
and good having a licensed you're having a mental health
counselor at your GP as an early intervention to ward
off any kind of worsening mental health situation. But I've
got so many parents who are bringing up who cannot
get their children into adolescent psychologists to help treat them.
(02:30):
Those with more severe need are really struggling to get
the help they need.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And look, we've taken a look across the whole system,
so really broad, complex system, looking from right from those
sort of primary community services tabby house services, emergency services
through to the specialist part of the system. And we
published a report a few months ago that really took
a deep dive, closer look at those services and we
(02:55):
can see that access to specialist services is really constrained.
So we have heard a lot about the difficulties people
are having in terms of getting it access and a
lot of that's relating to workforce. So the numbers of
people employed have increased, but also the vacancy rates have increased.
(03:16):
So addressing those workforce challenges is a really urgent issue
to be addressed. And we've made a recommendation to Health
New Zealand futtle Aura about developing a really robust workforce
plan and that's something that we're going to be checking
in on to see what progress is being made with
that plan. So it's about specialist staff, so psychiatrists, psychologists
(03:38):
and specialist mental health nurses, but it's also about the
support workers cultural workers, having that broad range of staff
that can support people when they need access to those services.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I look at the you know, at the graphs, and
that's a very you know, it's a very basic look
at when we are one point nine billion, when to
accept that, But when you look at the supporting mental
health within the justice sector, there's hundreds of million spent
on that, but less is spent on treating drug and
alcohol addiction. And you would think if you treated the
(04:12):
spent more on the addiction, you wouldn't need to spend
so much within the justice sector.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And that Access and Choice program, so that's the primary
community service is intended to support people with mental health
and addiction issues. So it is about that that front end,
and that's the finding of the Inquiry into Mental Health
and Addiction back in twenty and eighteen found that that
was the biggest gap. So that's where why this money
(04:39):
was prioritized into that area. Absolutely a need for looking
right across the system and say well, where is the
greatest need? And it's about money, but it's also about
addressing those other issues such as the workforce and the
types of services that are available.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I mean, you could spend ten billion dollars and there
would still be people whose needs were unmet. And I
get that, but this such a once in a generation
opportunity to really invest in the mental well being of
New Zealanders. Is it too early to see results?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well, I think we are seeing results and it's good
that one point nine billion was across four years and
of the one point nine, one point one went to
health and then the remaining eight hundred million went to
those other agencies, and you can see there's a twenty
nine different initiatives, so it's a broad range of investment.
(05:39):
So I think it's that challenge of the broad breadth
and the complexity of the system, but also then being
able to focus into some particular areas and seeing that
tangible change. And so that's why we're focused on access
and choice because it's so important to get that initial
response that those primary community services really enhance, so people
(06:02):
can get access early in the course of their distress,
which then may prevent people needing to go on to
more specialist services. So that's why, you know, focus on
some tangible areas where we can make a difference. The
other area that we've focused as on our young people,
so really focusing both on improving access to services for
(06:25):
young people but also trying to understand what's driving the
increase in rates of distress amongst our young people, because
we're seeing that both in New Zealand but also internationally
that you know, the range of factors that are driving that.
So how can we focus on the prevention, early intervention
as well as supporting people when they are experiencing distress.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, I mean this is I was actually referring to
this article yesterday of the bubble of post pandemic bad
behavior among pupils as predicted to peak as the It's
widely accepted that it was the young ones, the young
pupils who were most affected by school closures during COVID.
(07:09):
Then as they are entering their teen years, where you
traditionally get the more troubled behavior that's exacerbated by the
lockdowns and by what they've been through. And Principles warned
that this would happen the Western world over, that there
was going to be a sharp rise and bad behavior
and mental health issues, and I just wonder if anyone's
(07:32):
prepared for that.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Well, I think we're getting better understanding about what's contributing
to that. So we've we did some a couple of
years ago looking at what those drivers were, sort of
the global pandemic, the more recently cost of living crisis
and the impact that that has on our young people.
Online safety, so access to information online is a great
(07:58):
support it's part of the people's world that it had
some downsides as well, so really trying to understand what
are the sort of protective vectors, but also what are
the things that contribute to those that increasing rates of distress?
So what can we do about that? What can we
do in schools, what can we do in communities, what
can we do in families and farno to support those
(08:20):
young people early to avoid those situations arising, but then
to support them when they do.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And yet there's still you know, just about every second
charity is a mental health wellbeing charity. So we've had
one point nine billion dollars spent throughout government organizations to
try and address the problem of mental health and mental
wellbeing of New Zealanders and yet you've got I could
think of six or seven charities off the top of
(08:50):
my head that deal specifically with mental health and well being.
So clearly, despite the investment, there are huge gaps that
these many government organizations are not meeting.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
There are still gaps, analysty well, So one point nine
billion a lot of money. It's a really broad system
right from that community through to the really higher end
specialist services, and that the link between distress and people
being unwell, but also what occurs as part of people's
(09:23):
normal lives and how can we support and that really
broad way. So there's a real need for those community services.
But I think what we're seeing is a level of
fragmentation across the system, and that's where some of the
opportunity is to be much more joined up. And in
that report I referred to earlier, when we were talking
to people across the system, I mean people often had
(09:45):
a view of their part of the system, but not
necessarily what was happening in other places. So we do
need to be much much more joined up and really
thinking about what's the experience of people using those services
and how can we make them easy to access people
know what's available help with that sort of navigation of
the system.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And that's the only other thing. Sorry and sorry to
be negative, you know, because I mean you're trying. But
it's when we talk about the system and getting help
in GP clinics and all that sort of thing, there's
a really big group of people that don't go to
GP clinics, that are missing, that haven't got the money
to go to GP clinics, or don't don't even think
(10:27):
of a GP clinic as the place to go when
it comes to mental distress, so they'll turn to drugs
or alcohol as a way of self medicating.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeap and look. As part of that access and choice program,
there was a development of specific services co propri maori services,
specific services and use related services, So trying to get
those services that will be appropriate for a broader range
of people. And people tell us they want choice. They
(10:58):
don't always want to go to a GP, they want
that range, a broader range of services that are more
connected into communities. So there are some fantastic examples out there,
and you know, we're seeing some positives yet we're certainly
very aware of the size of the challenge ahead, but
it is about how do we understand how this money's
(11:20):
been to spent, what has been achieved from that investment,
and there is achievement, and then what else needs to
be done and where can we focus our efforts.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Can you give me a figure for how many people
are measurably better off as a result of this investment.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oh, I can speak to the Access and Choice investments.
So as at the June twenty twenty three, so for
that year, there were one hundred and eighty five thousand
people who had accessed that access and choice services across
the full range of those services. We haven't got the
figures for this latest year up to June twenty twenty four,
(11:58):
but we are taking a closer look at that and
we'll publish another report early next year looking at those numbers.
The anticipator full route rollout is three hundred and twenty
five thousand people per annum, so that's a lot of people,
and that's anticipated to be six point five percent of
the population. So you know, that is a big investment
(12:19):
and it's on a growth trajectory. Workforce is a challenge,
but it's certainly scaling up across the country.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I thank you very much for your time, Karen Osborne,
Mental Health and Well Being Commissioned, Chief Executive. So at
least there are facts and figures and numbers there. News
Talk Said B It is twelve to eleven.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
For more from Carry Wooden Mornings, listen live to News
Talk Said B from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the carry wood of morning's podcast from
News Talk st B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're finally getting some insight into where the one point
nine billion dollars from the twenty nineteen wellbeing budget was spent.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commissions released a report showing
ninety two percent of the one point nine million has
been spent or committed. That's around one hundred and sixty
three million unspent. Almost sixty two million has been set
(00:33):
aside for capital works. Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Chief
Executive Karen Osborne joins me now and a very good
morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning Carrie.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You can spend money, but has it done any good?
How do you measure the effect of the investment into
mental wellbeing?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yes, but that's a really good question. And in this
report we suddenly describe how the money was allocated and
how much of that money has been spent. And what
we can also see is the numbers of people who
have been able to access services using this investment. And
there's some quite significant numbers of people, particularly in that
(01:14):
Access and Choice program, which was the main spend in
the house part of this allocation. And so we've heard
from people have been using services and also the sector
that that money has made a real difference. But it
will take time to have that program fully rolled up
out so it's not fully rolled out yet, but also
(01:35):
then to be able to say what is the impact
and has it made a difference in terms of outcomes
for people. So we're working on how we'll make those assessments,
but it's still early days.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
That is such a lot of money, and it is
such a lot of money, and it could have made
such a difference, and one would hope that when it
all comes out in the wash, that it has, but
I rather fear there are still significant groups of people
whose needs go on met. I mean all very well
(02:08):
and good having a licensed you're having a mental health
counselor at your GP as an early intervention to ward
off any kind of worsening mental health situation. But I've
got so many parents who are bringing up who cannot
get their children into adolescent psychologists to help treat them.
(02:30):
Those with more severe need are really struggling to get
the help they need.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And look, we've taken a look across the whole system,
so really broad, complex system, looking from right from those
sort of primary community services tabby house services, emergency services
through to the specialist part of the system. And we
published a report a few months ago that really took
a deep dive, closer look at those services and we
(02:55):
can see that access to specialist services is really constrained.
So we have heard a lot about the difficulties people
are having in terms of getting it access and a
lot of that's relating to workforce. So the numbers of
people employed have increased, but also the vacancy rates have increased.
(03:16):
So addressing those workforce challenges is a really urgent issue
to be addressed. And we've made a recommendation to Health
New Zealand futtle Aura about developing a really robust workforce
plan and that's something that we're going to be checking
in on to see what progress is being made with
that plan. So it's about specialist staff, so psychiatrists, psychologists
(03:38):
and specialist mental health nurses, but it's also about the
support workers cultural workers, having that broad range of staff
that can support people when they need access to those services.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I look at the you know, at the graphs, and
that's a very you know, it's a very basic look
at when we are one point nine billion, when to
accept that, But when you look at the supporting mental
health within the justice sector, there's hundreds of million spent
on that, but less is spent on treating drug and
alcohol addiction. And you would think if you treated the
(04:12):
spent more on the addiction, you wouldn't need to spend
so much within the justice sector.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And that Access and Choice program, so that's the primary
community service is intended to support people with mental health
and addiction issues. So it is about that that front end,
and that's the finding of the Inquiry into Mental Health
and Addiction back in twenty and eighteen found that that
was the biggest gap. So that's where why this money
(04:39):
was prioritized into that area. Absolutely a need for looking
right across the system and say well, where is the
greatest need? And it's about money, but it's also about
addressing those other issues such as the workforce and the
types of services that are available.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I mean, you could spend ten billion dollars and there
would still be people whose needs were unmet. And I
get that, but this such a once in a generation
opportunity to really invest in the mental well being of
New Zealanders. Is it too early to see results?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well, I think we are seeing results and it's good
that one point nine billion was across four years and
of the one point nine, one point one went to
health and then the remaining eight hundred million went to
those other agencies, and you can see there's a twenty
nine different initiatives, so it's a broad range of investment.
(05:39):
So I think it's that challenge of the broad breadth
and the complexity of the system, but also then being
able to focus into some particular areas and seeing that
tangible change. And so that's why we're focused on access
and choice because it's so important to get that initial
response that those primary community services really enhance, so people
(06:02):
can get access early in the course of their distress,
which then may prevent people needing to go on to
more specialist services. So that's why, you know, focus on
some tangible areas where we can make a difference. The
other area that we've focused as on our young people,
so really focusing both on improving access to services for
(06:25):
young people but also trying to understand what's driving the
increase in rates of distress amongst our young people, because
we're seeing that both in New Zealand but also internationally
that you know, the range of factors that are driving that.
So how can we focus on the prevention, early intervention
as well as supporting people when they are experiencing distress.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, I mean this is I was actually referring to
this article yesterday of the bubble of post pandemic bad
behavior among pupils as predicted to peak as the It's
widely accepted that it was the young ones, the young
pupils who were most affected by school closures during COVID.
(07:09):
Then as they are entering their teen years, where you
traditionally get the more troubled behavior that's exacerbated by the
lockdowns and by what they've been through. And Principles warned
that this would happen the Western world over, that there
was going to be a sharp rise and bad behavior
and mental health issues, and I just wonder if anyone's
(07:32):
prepared for that.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Well, I think we're getting better understanding about what's contributing
to that. So we've we did some a couple of
years ago looking at what those drivers were, sort of
the global pandemic, the more recently cost of living crisis
and the impact that that has on our young people.
Online safety, so access to information online is a great
(07:58):
support it's part of the people's world that it had
some downsides as well, so really trying to understand what
are the sort of protective vectors, but also what are
the things that contribute to those that increasing rates of distress?
So what can we do about that? What can we
do in schools, what can we do in communities, what
can we do in families and farno to support those
(08:20):
young people early to avoid those situations arising, but then
to support them when they do.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And yet there's still you know, just about every second
charity is a mental health wellbeing charity. So we've had
one point nine billion dollars spent throughout government organizations to
try and address the problem of mental health and mental
wellbeing of New Zealanders and yet you've got I could
think of six or seven charities off the top of
(08:50):
my head that deal specifically with mental health and well being.
So clearly, despite the investment, there are huge gaps that
these many government organizations are not meeting.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
There are still gaps, analysty well, So one point nine
billion a lot of money. It's a really broad system
right from that community through to the really higher end
specialist services, and that the link between distress and people
being unwell, but also what occurs as part of people's
(09:23):
normal lives and how can we support and that really
broad way. So there's a real need for those community services.
But I think what we're seeing is a level of
fragmentation across the system, and that's where some of the
opportunity is to be much more joined up. And in
that report I referred to earlier, when we were talking
to people across the system, I mean people often had
(09:45):
a view of their part of the system, but not
necessarily what was happening in other places. So we do
need to be much much more joined up and really
thinking about what's the experience of people using those services
and how can we make them easy to access people
know what's available help with that sort of navigation of
the system.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And that's the only other thing. Sorry and sorry to
be negative, you know, because I mean you're trying. But
it's when we talk about the system and getting help
in GP clinics and all that sort of thing, there's
a really big group of people that don't go to
GP clinics, that are missing, that haven't got the money
to go to GP clinics, or don't don't even think
(10:27):
of a GP clinic as the place to go when
it comes to mental distress, so they'll turn to drugs
or alcohol as a way of self medicating.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeap and look. As part of that access and choice program,
there was a development of specific services co propri maori services,
specific services and use related services, So trying to get
those services that will be appropriate for a broader range
of people. And people tell us they want choice. They
(10:58):
don't always want to go to a GP, they want
that range, a broader range of services that are more
connected into communities. So there are some fantastic examples out there,
and you know, we're seeing some positives yet we're certainly
very aware of the size of the challenge ahead, but
it is about how do we understand how this money's
(11:20):
been to spent, what has been achieved from that investment,
and there is achievement, and then what else needs to
be done and where can we focus our efforts.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Can you give me a figure for how many people
are measurably better off as a result of this investment.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oh, I can speak to the Access and Choice investments.
So as at the June twenty twenty three, so for
that year, there were one hundred and eighty five thousand
people who had accessed that access and choice services across
the full range of those services. We haven't got the
figures for this latest year up to June twenty twenty four,
(11:58):
but we are taking a closer look at that and
we'll publish another report early next year looking at those numbers.
The anticipator full route rollout is three hundred and twenty
five thousand people per annum, so that's a lot of people,
and that's anticipated to be six point five percent of
the population. So you know, that is a big investment
(12:19):
and it's on a growth trajectory. Workforce is a challenge,
but it's certainly scaling up across the country.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I thank you very much for your time, Karen Osborne,
Mental Health and Well Being Commissioned, Chief Executive. So at
least there are facts and figures and numbers there. News
Talk Said B It is twelve to eleven.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
For more from Carry Wooden Mornings, listen live to News
Talk Said B from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.