Three years after the Labour Government’s announcement, only one out of 13 specialist mental health inpatient facility upgrades has shovels in the ground, National’s Mental Health & Suicide Prevention spokesperson, Matt Doocey says.

“As part of Budget 2019, the Labour Government announced $350 million of crown funding to go towards upgrading 13 mental health inpatient facilities. To date, only 2 per cent has been spent and only one facility has shovels in the ground.

“Our must vulnerable Kiwis are left with nowhere to turn as mental health inpatient facilities are rotting from the inside out, are at consistent over-occupancy, and operating outside of patient safety clinical guidelines.

“For years, the mental health sector and the public have called on the Government to take urgent action and upgrade our specialist services. We are yet to see a plan from Health Minister Minster on how he will change the course of the trajectory for our worsening facilities.

“In June 2021, Andrew Little told media he was ‘extraordinarily frustrated’ that the Government’s $1.9 billion mental health package wasn’t going towards services and that less than 1 per cent had been spent.

“A year on and the Minister has failed deliver any better outcomes for Kiwis because he has been too focused on his ideological driven health restructure.

“Labour promised to transform the mental health system but sadly, for many Kiwis, mental health services are more out of reach now than when Labour first came into office. Their lack of urgency to commence construction on these specialist facilities has now left Kiwis, who require these acute levels of care, at odds of where to go.

“Simply announcing funding with good intentions doesn’t solve any of the issues facing a declining mental health sector. What our vulnerable Kiwis need is a well-managed plan to execute change. Unfortunately we lack a government and a Minister who prioritises mental health.”