Kia ora from Karla and Paul
Haere mai, warm Pacific greetings, and welcome to this latest update on our Mental Health and Addiction Change Programme.
It’s crucial that any changes we make to the way mental health and addiction services are delivered are led by both the people who use services and those who deliver services. Therefore we have been working closely with a range of stakeholders to identify the right direction and models for change across our workstreams.
Working groups are starting to identify in more detail what some of these changes could look like, and this is resulting in some really exciting design work. More detail can be found below.
We hope you find this update valuable. If you would like to give us feedback, please get in touch via mhachange@ccdhb.org.nz.
Lastly, we would like to welcome Trish Chivers to the programme team as the new Project Manager for the Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health project. Trish, who is the MHAIDS Director of Allied Health, will work part time on the child and adolescent workstream. It is great to have her on the team.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Karla Bergquist Paul Oxnam
Executive Director, MHAIDS Executive Clinical Director, MHAIDS
Acute Inpatient Mental Health
Model of Care workshop
Earlier this month a workshop took place to identify and discuss the purpose, values and principles required for the model of care for the new Hutt Valley acute inpatient mental health unit, attended by a range of stakeholders. We want to express our thanks to all of you who attended and shared your thoughts and ideas.
There will be further workshops in the near future and we welcome your participation, even if you weren’t able to make the first workshop.
In the meantime, please take a few minutes to review the workshop summary, and email any feedback to our Change Programme team at mhachange@ccdhb.org.nz.
Since the last pānui we have been making steady progress across the five areas in this workstream:
- Establishment of locality-focused mental health and wellbeing hubs
- Transforming community mental health teams into integrated locality mental health and wellbeing teams
- Transforming the pathways between primary care and the secondary mental health and addiction system
- Building peer support capability into service delivery
Creating mental health and addiction locality network leadership
Establishment of locality-focused mental health and wellbeing hubs
A central piece of our community change agenda is the intention to establish locality-focused mental health and wellbeing hubs in key locations across our communities. Hubs are intended to provide a safe space and a key connection point for people who are in mental distress.
Over the last few months, we have been meeting with a range of stakeholders in both the Kāpiti and Porirua localities to talk about the possible role and function of a community mental health and wellbeing hub in their localities. Initial discussions have also canvassed people’s ideas about how best to engage with different groups about co-designing this type of community resource.
Transforming community mental health teams into integrated locality teams
This area of the change programme gives clinical teams the opportunity to design a system of care to better meet the needs of our communities. It is significant, but also exciting.
The initial design group has been exploring the evidence and potential benefits of a more integrated response from secondary care. The work in this area has a focus on Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) and the Crisis Resolution Service (CRS). The design group has developed a number of options for how an integrated community and crisis team could potentially operate.
The next step is to convene a lived experience group to explore how an integrated locality team could support people with mental illness and addiction needs. Working alongside those with lived experience will help make sure the system of care meets their needs and expectations.
Once this work has progressed, we will share with wider stakeholders to seek your feedback – to refine our thinking and give us the best chance possible to enhance our system of care.
Transforming the pathways between primary care and the secondary mental health and addiction system
A core design group has been meeting over the last two months, focused on three areas critical to supporting the ongoing transformation of pathways between primary and secondary care:
- the primary care liaison (PCL) service
- developing the GP with special interest (GPwSI) programme and
reviewing criteria for primary care packages of care funding for complex clients.
Taking action across these three areas together will support the transformation of pathways between primary and secondary care and provide the platform for ongoing work.
The design group is developing plans to improve how the current investment in primary care liaison is being used, with the PCL team working closely with primary health colleagues to ensure alignment. The group is also developing proposals to make the PCL service more widely available.
Connected to this work is the development of a GPwSI programme. Many areas of New Zealand have programmes that support the development of a network of general practitioners with a special interest in mental health and addiction. These programmes offer the training, ongoing development, supervision and support needed for general practitioners to provide enhanced mental health and addiction care in primary care settings. The design team are using best practice to develop a proposal to establish a GPwSI programme across our region.
Finally, work is underway to review funding that is available to primary care to support complex but stable clients. The design group believe that the criteria for how this funding is currently used could be altered, to support enhanced care in primary care settings. Alongside district commissioners they are investigating alternatives.
Building peer support capability into service delivery
Continuing to develop the capacity and capability of peer support is important for all areas of the change programme and the future of the mental health and addiction system.
The project team has been working closely with district commissioners and those with lived experience to increase our investment in peer support. A paper was recently presented to the Mental Health and Addiction Commissioning Forum, proposing support in principle for additional investment in peer support. The Forum supported the proposal and has requested further work be undertaken to refine the proposal, quantify the level of investment required and plan out the next steps.
We are hopeful additional investment in peer support capacity and capability will be available soon.
Finally…
We are continuing to embed the changes in management of non-urgent referrals. Many of the new intake and assessment clinician roles have been filled. Over the coming months we will be undertaking analysis to explore how this new approach is working and the impact it is having.
