The third New Zealand Psychiatry of Old Age services and workforce survey

Abstract

Objective: To survey the Psychiatry of Old Age (POA) services and workforce in New Zealand (NZ). Methods: The NZ branch of Faculty of POA contacted the POA lead clinician and/or service manager of the 20 district health boards (DHBs) and completed a survey based on variables used in two similar previous national surveys. Results: Seventeen services responded. We found acute inpatient beds and clinical staff time are funded differently across DHBs. Although there has been an increase in non-medical clinical staff time in the community teams, most DHBs are not planning to increase their medical staff time in the next 3 years. Specialist services for people with intellectual disabilities and young-onset dementia, and older people with substance use disorder are generally not provided within POA services. Conclusions: A wider POA and non-POA services mapping is required to determine the level of services for clinical populations that have high and complex clinical needs. DHB funders should review the expected population growth in people aged 65+ and consider increasing the funding for these under-served clinical populations.