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Making mental health care better for our kids
October 12, 2016
Making mental health care better for our kids
The Canterbury Health System’s commitment to giving our kids the best access to mental health care has led to some changes to improve services.
The Child Adolescent and Family (CAF) Specialist Mental Health Service has undergone unprecedented growth over the past 15 years, which has accelerated post-earthquakes.
Toni Gutschlag, Canterbury DHB General Manager Mental
Health, says community expectations and changes in the
Canterbury population have created the need for a more
flexible, responsive, efficient and integrated approach to
service delivery.
“There has been an enormous increase
in demand and the way we provided services was no longer
ideal for delivering the best care possible to our
community,” Toni says.
“To be able to meet the
ongoing demand in Canterbury, we have set up two teams,
based at Sylvan Street or The Princess Margaret
Hospital.
“We have also recruited an additional eight full time staff to support these changes and care for more people, with the overall goal of better meeting the demand by being a more seamless and better integrated service.”
Toni says the new model of care is one that’s been adopted from Canterbury DHB’s successful adult service model, adapted to suit the needs of children and young people.
“The overall goal is to create better access for service users, reduce waiting times and ensure our children and young people are getting the help they need,” she says.
“The new model means children and young people no longer have to transfer to new services as they age – an issue in our current system that we have now resolved.”
The new structure will help create an environment that will enable the CAF service to meet the challenges presented by increased demand.
Toni says it follows significant consultation with staff, service user’s representatives, family advisors and other related service providers, that began about 18 months ago.
The two teams have been renamed CAF South Community and Outreach Team – based at The Princess Margaret Hospital, and CAF North Community and Outreach Team – based on Sylvan Street.
CAF South and CAF North teams will support young people from five to 18 years throughout Canterbury.
“We will also have a new service pathway for children under five years of age. This is in addition to services provided at other sites in Canterbury such as Ashburton and Rangiora. Whakatata House in Cashel Street will house other CAF services.
“Our commitment to delivering the best possible service for you and your family/whānau will always be our priority.
“We are looking forward to seeing some improvements as a result of these changes.”
ENDS
Canterbury DHB
CDHB
Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) is a Christchurch, New Zealand based hospital and healthcare provider for the
Canterbury region of New Zealand. Our region extends from Kekerengu in the North, to Rangitata in the South and Arthurs Pass in the West and comprises the six Territorial Local Authorities of Kaikoura, Hurunui, Waimakariri, Christchurch City, Selwyn and Ashburton.
We collaborate with other health and disability organisations, stakeholders and our community to decide what health and disability services are needed and how to best use the funding we receive from Government to improve, promote and protect the health, wellbeing and independence of our population.
At the Canterbury DHB, our vision is to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in Canterbury.
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