Impact of mental health funds unclear
THE jury is still out on whether Labour’s mega investment into mental health in the 2019 Budget is having a positive impact. A new report from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has found 92% of the $1.96 billion allocated for mental health was spent or committed by June 2023.
‘‘The vast majority of the $1.9b investment has been spent and we can now show where the money went,’’ the commission’s chief executive, Karen Orsborn, said.
‘‘We’ve documented where the money went because we thought it is important to clear up any public misunderstanding about an investment of this size.
‘‘It’s part of our monitoring role to bring transparency to investment decisions. Without it, people can lose confidence in the system’s ability to deliver. ‘‘Going forward, we need to ensure allocation of resources is
underpinned by a longterm vision and strategy. Investment is still needed to sustain and scale up current and new initiatives in priority areas,’’ Ms Orsborn said.
Of the total investment package, 57% went to health, which includes key initiatives such as the $455.1 million Access and Choice programme.
The rest of the package went across social and justice sectors, including 24.3% to housing and urban development, 7.3% to social development, 6.6% to Corrections and 3.5% to Internal Affairs.
Ms Orsborn said while it was a waiting game to see if the investment was having a positive impact on the sector, the Access and Choice Programme, that provided support for the ‘‘missing middle’’, was proving successful.
‘‘We know that as at June 2023 there were 185,000 people accessing those new primary and community services.
‘‘So that’s a lot of people being able to access services that they previously weren’t able to access,’’ she said. Ms Orsborn said only time would tell if it had a positive impact, and if there had been any good outcomes from the spending.
The remaining funding was either reallocated or set aside for future use. — RNZ