8. Question No. 8—HealthMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 8—Health8. MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of Health: Is it correct that reported waiting times for children seeking mental health treatment in the Wellington region increased from 28 days in 2018 to almost 70 days in 2022 and does she agree with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission's statement that There are persistent workforce shortages and we are yet to see a clear strategy and roadmap to grow and develop the workforce we so desperately need"?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Minister of Health): Firstly I want to acknowledge the impact waiting for mental health treatment has on young people and their families. Wait times are longer than I would like due to a range of factors including increased demand for services and workforce shortages. In answer to the first part of the question in relation to specialist services yes. In answer to the second part of the question the mental health workforce as a whole has grown substantially under this Government due to the introduction of the Access and Choice programme. I am advised that the child and adolescent mental health services in the former Capital and Coast district have recently succeeded in filling some of their vacancies. There are currently lower vacancies when compared to last year. I disagree there is a lack of a plan.Matt Doocey: Why does the Minister use the excuse of the Access and Choice programme when a large majority of their workforce does not necessarily have a qualification when the increasing vacancy rate is actually in the specialist workforce of psychiatry—just to give the Minister one example last year psychiatry increased 125 percent in vacancy rates—psychologists and nursing?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: Because there is overlap in the skilled professionals who work between hospital or specialists—Matt Doocey: No psychiatrists work in the Access and Choice programme.Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: That is correct. Psychiatrists don't but other mental health professionals with qualifications work both in specialist and in the primary Access and Choice system and there has been a movement of trained workforce from the specialist and hospital-based services to the community services that we have set up. It is not an excuse and we have a number of measures under way in order to grow the workforce. This includes promoting new entry to specialist practice changes for nurses with 127 additional places; further training for nurse practitioner programmes with 80 places; funding for additional clinical psychology internships with 26 additional places; four new psychology training hubs; entry to specialist practice for social workers being supported with 42 additional practices; further work to attract people to psychiatry with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; and 70 additional bursaries for young people who are interested in training and mental health careers who are Māori 65 for Pacific and 11 for Muslim people.Matt Doocey: In light of that answer of so-called announced initiatives what is her response to 14 of the 16 regional health authority risk registers identifying workforce problems including understaffing as a major risk with one risk register stating "The pressure on mental health services treating children and teenagers increases the risk of an increased number of attempted and completed suicides."?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I'm aware of the risk posed by these vacancies and that is why we are taking action on multiple fronts to address them. Some of the specialist skills cannot be developed overnight and we do have to invest in our training programmes to get there. We are doing that work. I'll also note that over the pandemic we have seen here and around the world an increase in the mental distress expressed by young people and there is no health system in the world that would have already had a specialist trained workforce in order to meet those needs.Matt Doocey: In light of the Minister's answers of addressing the workforce crisis on multiple fronts what responsibility does she take in light of Dougal Sutherland's comments today a clinical psychologist at Victoria University who said "The government's singular focus on one or two new mental health initiatives has been at the expense of training programmes."?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I am very happy to engage with anyone from the sector on how we might improve our training programmes. I am not aware of Dr or Mr Sutherland's background but we have work under way with the college of psychiatrists to make sure that there are further psychiatrists trained including in the area of youth and adolescent mental health.Matt Doocey: Why then had no money been spent of the Budget 2022 announcement of $18.7 million for child and adolescent specialist mental health by 31 March of this year?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I am advised that that money will begin being spent in the coming month."