Mental Health Matters - November

Mental Health Matters Kia Ora, It has been a very busy time for the CPO Mental Health Team.

Our team is continuing to battle with extended staff illness, leaving one staff member to triage your referrals over recent weeks. This situation will continue until an additional clinician is recruited to the team.

Please be aware there is currently at least a two-week waitlist from the time of receiving referral until we can contact your client to discuss their needs. We are prioritising referrals, particularly our target populations such as youth and post-natal women, but there are delays.

The level of demand for our service continues to far exceed our level of resourcing, we are doing our best to link those that we cannot fund into packages of care, with appropriate community support.

Many counsellors and therapists are now at capacity within their practices, some community counselling and addiction treatment services such as St Peters Counselling and Hanmer Clinic have closed their books to new referrals. Other therapists are not taking on new referrals due to their planned summer breaks. This impacts on wait times for those who are triaged to a package of care, and reduces options for those whom we cannot fund.

With this difficult landscape in mind, we ask that if you have a HIP in your practice, please utilise their skills for the management of people who are requesting mental health support.

It is very important that those requiring urgent intervention are referred to the appropriate support, such as the crisis team, who can respond urgently.

Within your practices your assistance to ensure the people who most need our support are the ones referred is most appreciated. The use of your HIPS and Health Coaches is recommended in the first instance.

We will continue to actively work with Te Whatu Ora regarding our level of resourcing.

Our service is unable to provide support for people who already have counselling in place through ACC, or who are under the care of secondary services such as Community Mental Health.

There is support accessible through the Ministry for Social Development (MSD) for patients who are supported by MSD (Jobseekers etc.) or who have low income and would qualify for disability support as outlined in the link below. https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/eligibility/health-and-disability/counselling.html Given the situation we face where demand is outstripping our resourcing, we request that you identify and work with your patients who are eligible for this support to access this funding wherever possible. Our information manual outlines that those who can access alternative funding such as MSD or ACC are not eligible for PHO funded counselling.

Below is the form that is required to be completed for funding under disability support. https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/eligibility/health-and-disability/counselling.html MSD also has a resource for counselling that anyone who is an MSD client on a Work and Income benefit can self-refer to. Offering individual phone counselling, people can book session times to suit, with sessions offered from 9am to 9pm 7 days a week. Multiple languages are available.

We have had patients access and feedback their experiences of this service and to date it has been positive. People need to call the 0800 number at the bottom of the page. They are then allocated a number to login to the site and choose their counsellor from the bios provided.

Here is the link to this service - https://whakarongorau.nz/puawaitanga Please share the information regarding this resource with your eligible patients and utilise this service in the first instance if you believe it is appropriate for your patients’ presentation.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder Pathway We understand there has been a marked increase in people presenting to practices asking for clarification or diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ADHD/ASD). While there is no public pathway for adults presenting for diagnostic clarification or management of their symptomatology, a referral to secondary services is still an important step to take for your patient. Even though the referral will be declined, the letter advising the decline is required for your patient to be able to access Ministry of Social Development support to assist with funding along the private pathway.

The letter you receive back from the Adult Community Mental Health Triage Clinician will state the following: This referral does not meet the inclusion criteria for our service.

Please advise your patient to access a private psychiatrist for an ADHD/ASD assessment. Additionally contact https://www.altogetherautism.org.nz/ or WINZ who can help to navigate access to support.

As advised by WINZ Health and Disability Coordinator Miri Ashby this letter can be used as evidence to assist in funding towards an ADHD/ASD assessment.

We hope that with the demand for this intervention being noted and recorded statistically, there may evolve a plan for service development to address the needs of this population.

Community Mental Health Service Documents The CPO mental health team do not have access to the clinical information held by secondary services. To avoid further delays for your patients, please ensure you attach any relevant documents from the Triage, Crisis, or Sector Teams that your patient has been referred to or had contact with. This will save the CPO team having to contact your practice to get these sent or trying to work with your patient to facilitate their written consent. We are making every effort to address this issue with Te Whatu Ora to ensure the provision of timely, safe and appropriate care to people.

Naomi Malcolm Registered Nurse Primary Mental Health Programme Lead

M: (027) 232 2760 | P: (07) 571 7173 | E: naomim@wboppho.org.nz