Kia ora
Meri Kirimihete, and welcome to our final Mental Health and Addiction Change Programme pānui of 2023. As we come to the end of the year it seems fitting to reflect on what has been accomplished across the Mental Health and Addiction Change Programme in the past 12 months.
Highlights include:
Have a look on the news section of our website for more highlights.
Thanks to you all for your engagement this year, whether you attended a workshop, provided your perspective on service design, or gave us your feedback. We appreciate your generosity of time, energy, and thoughts to help shape our future services, and we look forward to working with you all as we move into the implementation phase in 2024.
Best wishes for the festive session and we will see you all in 2024!
Paul Oxnam Scott Ambridge
Executive Clinical Director, MHAIDS Executive Director, MHAIDS
Community Mental Health and Addiction
Mental Health Addiction Crisis Support (MHACS)
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With an increasing number of people presenting to Emergency Departments experiencing acute distress from mental health and addiction challenges, a national initiative was set up to improve the quality of treatment, support and choices available.
One of its areas of focus was the establishment of Mental Health Acute Care Support Specialty Education Nurse roles in our region’s Emergency Departments. These crucial roles were taken up by De’arna Sculley in Hutt Valley and Gavin Donnell in Wellington, both of whom carried out education to support, upskill, and build the confidence of their ED colleagues, and strengthen links with broader mental health services. Get an inside perspective on the role here.
Local Adult Specialist Mental Health & Addiction Service
Confirmation of the vision, principles, and Model of Care outlined in the change proposal, as well as the leadership structure, signals the end of the consultation period for the Local Adult Specialist Mental Health & Addiction Service.
2024 will see MHAIDS moving into the implementation phase for the new service, with changes occurring in a staged, gradual, and sustainable way to minimise any disruption for kaimahi and tāngata whaiora.
We are committed to working with kaimahi and stakeholders continue to be involved in the shaping of the new service, and there will be opportunities for teams and localities to provide grassroots leadership. We want to see innovative, creative practices that collaborate closely within each locality to help bring the vision, principles, and Model of Care to life. This will ultimately help us deliver more equitable care and offer more choice to the communities we serve.
The next steps as we move into the implementation phase include:
Those who were appointed to new leadership roles commencing in these positions in mid-January 2024.
Undertaking a census of who is using our services, as well as tāngata whaiora journey mapping.
- Undertaking work to understand how people move between specialist mental health and addiction services and primary care/GP services in a way that best meets their needs, both now and in the future.
Whakarongorau Aotearoa take over Te Haika overnight shifts
We are pleased to partner with Whakarongorau Aotearoa, a well-established national telehealth provider, to offer people in our communities overnight telephone support.
The first step in transitioning to Whakarongorau Aotearoa has now taken place and they answer calls made to the service between 11pm–8am seven nights a week, including public holidays. This means that tāngata whaiora and whānau can still access telephone support through the 0800 number at any time, but overnight calls to the service will be picked up by a mental health clinician from Whakarongorau Aotearoa on behalf of MHAIDS.
The clinician will screen and prioritise the call, referring people in urgent need of support to the Crisis Resolution Service and handing non-urgent calls to MHAIDS or other community supports for follow-up. This will improve access and timely response for those calling.
In March 2024 we will complete the transition to Whakarongorau Aotearoa as they take over telephone triage shifts around the clock.
Te Awakairangi Māori Mental Health and Addiction
Late November saw two planning hui held at which the expert advisory and governance groups came together to shape the design of the future Māori Mental Health and Addiction Service in Te Awakairangi, and discuss how it will operate. These took place at Te Kakano o Te Aroha Marae (Moera) and Te Matauraura o Whenuangaro (Te Whiti Park, Waiwhetu).
Since the expert advisory and governance groups were formed in October, planning has been taking place to more clearly define their roles and how they will work. Further recruitment is planned for the governance group, including representatives from Te Aka Whai Ora and whānau with lived experience.
Next steps include refining and testing the draft service delivery model, and gaining an understanding of the investment pathway and approach for our Regional Mentally Well commissioning team and MHAIDS. Longer-term steps to be taken in 2024 include confirming the service delivery model, before work commences to establish this crucial service.
Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health
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Each month we’ll be getting to know two of the Choice & Partnership Approach (CAPA) champions and hearing a little more about what drives their passion for service improvement.
“I really enjoy the regular opportunity to connect in with clinicians from the other services,” says Megan Coelho de Almeida, Clinical Psychologist at Porirua CAMHS. “It’s lovely and useful to hear what everyone else is up to.”
Simon Wallace, Clinical Psychologist at Wellington CAMHS agrees. “It has been nice to connect with likeminded people in other teams, and to learn about the ways in which we can deliver services more effectively.” Hear more from Megan and Simon on our website.
Sharing knowledge is vital to realising the benefits of the Choice & Partnership Approach (CAPA), and so MHAIDS was delighted to host the CAPA national forum earlier this year. Read more here.
Inpatient Acute Mental Health
Update on Acute Inpatient Rebuild
Te Whatu Ora has taken over the delivery of the project to replace the acute mental health facility in the Hutt Valley. An external team was previously managing the project.
This change was made at the request of Sir Mark, who will be making an extraordinarily generous donation of $50 million to the project to build the Mark Dunajtschik Mental Health Centre.
The Infrastructure and Investment Group has almost finished transferring the original design team to Te Whatu Ora. Project managers have also been appointed.
The team is working hard to complete the procurement process, before the design process recommences on 29 January.
Meanwhile, good progress is being made on clearing the site for the new facility; Kowhai House has been demolished, and the demolition of Pilmuir House is well underway.
