Vulnerable people in the community are owed more than the amount of paper which has been generated about mental health services, Otago District Health Board member Louise Rosson says.
At the Otago and Southland community and public health advisory committee meeting this week she questioned the need to gather more data on mental health services in Otago.
In 11 years she thought there had been four reviews of mental health services - "I'd almost call it a tragic litany, the fact that I can't recall it accurately."
It had become a depressing blur, she said.
She was critical of the wording of the mental health work plan which she said did not give a full understanding of what the board was planning to do.
The Otago board was budgeting for a deficit in mental health which should act as a driver for some "some crispness" and assurances that the board had a plan which would result in greater efficiencies and greater service.
Senior mental health project manager Dan Mustapic, in a presentation on the project, said more data on services was needed to see if what the board was spending money on was providing the right mix of services.
The board did not have information such as the length of stay in services providing residential beds or the case loads of workers, or from where patients were referred.
More information would give a better idea of whether the current spending was based on need.
Regional planning and funding general manager David Chrisp said both boards were cash-strapped and facing the challenge of funding all services, not just in mental health.
They needed information which showed which investments would provide the benefits sought.
Mr Mustapic said there was also a need to review the Queenstown-Central Otago services because of the growth in population in that area and demand on service provision.
This would identify gaps and see how services could be shared.
There was also a need for consistency in planning across both boards.
In response to discussion about the mix of board and community services, Mr Mustapic said both Otago and Southland boards provided more than the national average of 70% of services, with Southland on 78% and Otago on 76%.
It was easy to say that more services in the community would be good value for money, but the boards needed the data to show that.
