SPECIALIST MENTAL HEALTH AND
ADDICTION SERVICES
3rd Floor, 44 Taharoto Road
Private Bag 93-503, Takapuna
North Shore City 0740
Telephone: 09-487-1500
Freephone: 0800 80 9342
Visit: www.waitematadhb.govt.nz
1 June 2021
Elodie Green
Via email: [email address]
Dear Elodie
Re: OIA request - Mental healthcare service-use
Thank you for your Official Information Act request received 23 April 2021 seeking information
from Waitematā DHB about the provision of mental health services.
You requested the fol owing information:
I am seeking information on the performance and service of DHBs for their provision of mental
health services. I would like data for the fol owing:
1. For Community Mental Health; Child and Adolescent Mental Health; and (Te Haika) Mental
Health Crisis response:
• Number of distinct new entries/cases per month, by age group (five-year bands if
possible*), 2015 – 2020 calendar year
• Number of total new entries/cases per month, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 –
2020 calendar years
• Number of distinct cases open at month-end, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 –
2020 calendar years
• Number of distinct exits per month, by age group (five-year bands if possible*), 2015 –
2020 calendar year
• Number of total new exits per month, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 – 2020
calendar years
2. For the DHB:
• Number of hospitalisations for mental health per year, by age group (five-year bands),
2015 – 2020 calendar years
• Number of people waitlisted to see a psychologist per year, by age group (five-year
bands), 2015 – 2020 calendar year
• Number of people seeing a psychologist, per year, by age group (five-year bands), 2015
– 2020 calendar year
• Number of psychologists employed by the DHB at year end (split by part time, ful time,
contracted) by year, 2015 – 2020 calendar year
*Five-year bands are ideally 0 – 5, 6 – 10, 11 -15, 16- 20, 21 – 25, 26 -30 years, etc. If there is too
much suppression in those age bands can it please be in 10-year age bands?
We contacted you on 29 April to clarify if you were happy for us to exclude the following areas:
• Addiction services - Community Alcohol and Drug Services (CADS)
• Forensic mental health (Mason Clinic)
1
• Mental Health Services for Older Adults - both community and inpatient services.
We clarified that this meant that we would be providing information for the following areas:
• Adult Community Mental Health
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Adult Mental Health inpatient services.
On 5 May, we contacted you again to check on the above clarification. You responded on the
same day to confirm that this was the information you were seeking.
Before responding to your specific questions, it may be useful to provide some context about our
services.
Waitematā is the largest and one of the most rapidly growing DHBs in the country, serving a
population of around 650,000 across the North Shore, Waitakere and Rodney areas. We are the
largest employer in the district, employing around 8,600 people across more than 80 locations.
In addition to providing care to our own resident population, we are the Northern Region
provider of forensic mental health services and child rehabilitation services, plus the metro
Auckland provider of child community dental services and community alcohol and drug services.
We are the largest mental health service provider in New Zealand by volume of service-users
seen.
In response to your request, we are able to provide the fol owing information:
1. New referrals, caseloads and discharges for the Community Mental Health Services, Child
and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Mental Heath Crisis Teams – specifical y:
•
number of distinct new entries/cases per month, by age group (five-year bands if
possible*), 2015 – 2020 calendar year
•
number of total new entries/cases per month, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 –
2020 calendar year
•
number of distinct cases open at month-end, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 –
2020 calendar year
•
number of distinct exits per month, by age group (five-year bands if possible*), 2015 –
2020 calendar year
•
number of total new exits per month, by age group (five-year bands), 2015 – 2020
calendar years.
*Five-year bands are ideally 0 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 15, 16 - 20, 21 - 25, 26 – 30 years, etc. If there is
too much suppression in those age bands can it please be in 10 year age bands.
We have provided collated figures for adult mental health services and child and adolescent
mental health as the Adult Community Mental Health teams provide out-of-hours crisis support
across the age spectrum. This includes children, young people and older adults who have been
referred through our crisis services and also appear in our new referrals data.
It should be noted that our Maternal Mental Health Service and Early Psychosis Intervention
Service (which predominantly provide care for people over 18 years) also sit within the Child and
Youth Mental Health portfolio and referrals to these services come through the Adult Community
Mental Health teams. We do not operate a separate Mental Health Crisis Team.
Instead, all acute interventions are recorded as a “crisis contact” by the acute components of our
community mental health teams. Because of this, we have provided collated information for
al
crisis referrals separately (Attachment 6). To collate this data, we have counted al open cases
2
that have had at least one crisis contact. Please note these crisis contacts will also be counted in
Tables 1-30 for the categories in the bullet-pointed list below.
As demonstrated in the attached tables, there has been growth in the number of new clients over
the past five years. This is consistent with the population growth within our district and also
reflects the increasing demand for specialist mental health services.
We have withheld numbers that are fewer than five to protect individual privacy under section
9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act 1982. We have considered whether the public’s right to
know outweighs the need for the privacy of individuals and have determined it does not.
We have interpreted your requests as fol ows:
•
Number of distinct new entries/cases has been interpreted as:
o new individual clients – see tables 1-6:
Attachment 1
•
Total new entries/cases per month has been interpreted as:
o total new referrals – see tables 7 to 12:
Attachment 2
•
Number of distinct cases open at month-end has been interpreted as:
o number of individual clients at month-end – see tables 13 to 18:
Attachment 3
•
Number of distinct exits per month has been interpreted as:
o number of individual clients discharged – see tables 29 to 24:
Attachment 4
•
Number of total new exits per months has been interpreted as:
o total number of discharges – see tables 25- 30:
Attachment 5.
2. Number of hospitalisations for mental health per year, by age group for the period 2015-
2020
Waitematā DHB has two adult acute mental health inpatient units – one on the North Shore
Hospital campus (He Puna Waiora) and one on the Waitakere Hospital campus (Waiatarau). The
table below shows the number of mental health hospitalisations to these two units by age group
for each calendar year from 2015 to 2020.
Please note that while adult mental health services are generally for people aged 18 – 65 years,
some people remain in the care of those services after turning 65 if there is not a specific age-
related element to their condition.
Number of hospitalisations to He Puna Waiora and Waiatarau adult mental health inpatient
units from 2015-2020
Age at admission
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
16-20 yrs
123
107
109
102
95
105
21-25 yrs
181
221
223
242
190
189
26-30 yrs
126
141
170
176
163
163
31-35 yrs
136
150
135
137
151
163
36-40 yrs
111
94
112
113
111
96
41-45 yrs
115
159
96
119
133
74
46-50 yrs
125
125
142
132
117
96
51-55 yrs
109
79
100
82
123
80
56-60 yrs
54
64
64
85
73
54
61-65 yrs
39
26
49
49
69
49
66-70 yrs
22
12
10
10
13
15
71-75 yrs
<5
<5
<5
5
7
18
76-80 yrs
0
0
0
<5
<5
0
81-85 yrs
0
0
<5
0
0
0
3
3. Number of people waitlisted to see a psychologist per year, by age group for the period
2015- 2020
Waitematā DHB employs clinical psychologists in all of our community mental health teams,
including our cultural services. The table below details the number of people waitlisted to see a
psychologist for the period from 2017 to 2020.
Please note, we are unable to provide data prior to 2017, as this information was not
electronically recorded. To provide it would require the review of individual clinical records of
patients. Due to the sensitivity of this information, frontline clinical staff would need to review
individual clinical files and it would not be appropriate to use a contractor to review the records.
This would take the frontline staff away from their clinical work and prejudice our ability to
provide core clinical services.
We have considered whether charging or extending the timeframe for responding to this aspect
of your request would assist us in managing this work and have concluded it would not. We have,
therefore, determined to refuse this element of your request under Section 18(f) of the Official
Information Act due to substantial collation and research.
The waitlisted data relates predominately to the Adult Community Mental Health Service and
Moko Mental Health Services, the Māori kaupapa clinical team. Child and Youth Services have no
waiting lists as they use the Choice and Partnership Approach (CAPA) model.
Number of people waitlisted to see a Waitematā DHB psychologist for the period from 2017 to
2020
Age Group
2017
2018
2019
2020
16-20 yrs
20
37
32
36
21-25 yrs
30
62
61
36
26-30 yrs
17
54
31
39
31-35 yrs
14
30
25
21
36-40 yrs
16
33
34
17
41-45 yrs
11
24
25
21
46-50 yrs
8
30
17
16
51-55 yrs
7
24
14
18
56-60 yrs
<5
18
13
11
61-65 yrs
6
20
13
<5
66-70 yrs
0
<5
<5
<5
71-75 yrs
<5
0
0
<5
4. Number of people seeing a psychologist per year, by age group for the period 2015 - 2020
Clinical psychologists provide both individual and group therapy. The table below details the
number of people who have been seen for either or both individual and group therapy.
Furthermore, the data also includes psychology assessments, which could include
neuropsychological, diagnostic clarifications or other.
Please note that the information provided may not capture all therapy contacts as there are
various coding options available to staff, depending on the primary reason that clinicians
determine for any particular session.
Number of people seen by clinical psychologists in individual or group therapy or for a
psychology assessment from 2015 - 2020
Age at contact start
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
0-5 yrs
0
<5
<5
0
<5
0
6-10 yrs
<5
8
9
9
14
<5
11-15 yrs
<5
10
9
6
8
7
4
16-20 yrs
76
93
89
73
76
83
21-25 yrs
109
155
163
142
138
154
26-30 yrs
107
127
136
110
113
107
31-35 yrs
98
109
93
96
92
90
36-40 yrs
75
99
100
80
69
91
41-45 yrs
87
108
83
61
70
66
46-50 yrs
64
99
72
65
63
50
51-55 yrs
60
84
78
45
45
59
56-60 yrs
38
45
36
38
28
27
61-65 yrs
27
39
25
34
29
33
66-70 yrs
7
<5
6
7
<5
8
71-75 yrs
0
0
<5
<5
<5
<5
5. Number of psychologists employed by the DHB at year end (split by part-time, ful -time,
contracted)
The following information records the actual number of psychologists (headcount) employed in
both ful -time and part-time roles.
Number of psychologists employed by Waitematā DHB, within the Adult Mental Health Service,
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and our Māori kaupapa clinical service.
Psychologists
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Ful -Time
25
31
29
24
25
25
Part Time
40
37
31
44
50
46
Total headcount
65
68
60
68
75
71
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the decisions made
in providing this response. Information about how to seek a review is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or Freephone 0800 802 602.
I trust that the information we have been able to provide is helpful.
Waitematā DHB supports the open disclosure of information to assist community understanding
of how we are delivering publicly funded healthcare. This includes the proactive publication of
anonymised Official Information Act responses on our website from 10 working days after they
have been released.
If you consider there are good reasons why this response should not be made publicly available,
we will be happy to consider your views.
Yours sincerely
Dr Murray Patton
Director and Clinical Lead, Specialist Mental Health & Addiction Services
Waitematā District Health Board
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