Transition of mental health and addiction programme

The Mental Health and Addiction Quality Improvement Programme, which has been hosted by Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission for the last 8 years, is transitioning back into Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), with a handover date of 30 June 2025.

On behalf of both the Commission and Health NZ, we want to acknowledge and thank all stakeholders for the leadership and guidance they have provided over the years – including the staff within the Commission who have delivered the programme, and to thank the teams on the ground for the immense amount of work that has gone into the projects and everything that has been achieved so far.

Health NZ remains committed to reducing and eliminating seclusion and improving the physical health of mental health consumers. To support this, Health NZ has planned the following activities:

·        Always Report and Review process: From 1 July 2025, seclusion events will be designated as Always Report and Review (ARR) events, which are defined as an adverse event that can result in serious harm or death but are preventable with strong clinical and organisational systems. This decision ensures Health NZ's clear visibility and prioritisation of progress in reducing seclusion rates. The ARR framework provides a structured mechanism for ongoing learning and accountability, critical for sustaining the gains that have been achieved.

·         New seclusion dashboard: A new seclusion dashboard is being developed by Health NZ, to provide real-time data about seclusion events, using international measures such as rates per thousand bed days. This will enable more timely monitoring of trends, benchmarking and comparative analysis across units. The dashboard will include filters for age and ethnicity, enabling granular analysis to support the commitment to increased equity. This data will be reviewed nationally and also by regional mental health and addiction leaders, to support the sharing of best practice ideas and resources.

·        Maximising physical health: Co-design and quality improvement activities were completed in June. A possible future focus for this work, with the potential to make a significant impact, is providing wraparound support for people presenting to mental health services for the first time.

From 1 July 2025:

·         Responsibility for mental health and addiction quality improvement will shift to Health NZ.

·         Health NZ will take over monitoring of seclusion data.

·         The Commission will monitor the Always Report and Review data for seclusion events and provide reports to Health     NZ and the Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora.

·        Resources for the mental health and addiction quality improvement programme currently hosted on the Commission’s website will remain on this website, until they transition to the Health NZ website. Information on how to access these will be provided in due course.

From 1 July onwards, any queries related to this work should be directed to the local mental health or quality and patient safety leader.