A local man by the name of Kerry Hand recently had discussions with me about the state of mental health services in Inland Otago, and the injustice of the current staffing situation locally.  

I would like to share what he has to say with you but first, I need to convey that Kerry knows what he is talking about, and that I have since had confirmation that his figures are right from Te Whata Ora.

So here’s a pretty blunt and brutal fact that Kerry raises: In the Dunedin area there is one community mental health staff member for every 443 people, while in the Central Otago-Queenstown Lakes area there is one community mental health staff member for every 2,884 people. 

Let that sink in. 

Looking more closely at his figures, there are 335 community health staff in Otago but only about 26 are based in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes. That’s 26 community mental health staff for our approximately 75,000 people while Dunedin with its 130,000 people gets 294. 

I accept that there are going to be swings and round-abouts that come from living in a semi-rural paradise, but these figures are so out of whack that I cannot help but scream about the injustice of it.

Kerry clarifies that, while there are inpatient wards in Dunedin, the large staff numbers working there are excluded from these community mental health staff calculations.

I am acutely aware of the pressure that our local mental health providers are under, and I know that what needs to be taken into account in looking at these figures - what actually makes them even more galling - is the reality that our few heroes working in this field often spend long hours accompanying acutely unwell people to Dunedin for inpatient care, hours not spent by those service providers in Dunedin.

I agree totally with Kerry that this is not a contest between areas and that Dunedin remains a strong part of the service and coordination is vital but in community mental health, local availability is key.

The health service in New Zealand is going through major change as we all know, and I will be taking a very keen and active role in working to address this imbalance. It won’t happen overnight; the size of the shift needed makes that impossible, but over time our needs in this space must be met far more effectively than they are presently.

I wrote to the Minister of Health and Te Whata Ora some time ago but am yet to get a response. I will keep you posted.