Wait-time targets for addiction, mental health care not being met in N.B., auditor general says
CBC
New Brunswick's Department of Health is missing its own targets for how long patients should wait to receive addiction and mental health treatment, according to the province's auditor general.
Paul Martin's report, released Tuesday, also revealed that despite an increase in the demand for addiction and mental health services in New Brunswick, the Department of Health has not proportionately increased the amount of funding it budgets every year for those services.
"There was no specific needs analysis to say, 'Well, here we're seeing significant increases in numbers of people being referred [for] mental health needs and needing assistance,' yet the same budget is just being prepared every year and and passed on to the health authorities," said Martin, answering questions from MLAs about his report.
"I think given the significant increase in referrals, assessments, number of people going through, there appears an obvious need to go back and reassess what the need is."
Martin's audit took a look at Department of Health figures related to funding for, and access to, addiction and mental health services in the province between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2024.
His report notes that while the province's two regional health authorities are in charge of administering those services, it's the Department of Health that's in charge of planning, funding and monitoring how those services are delivered.
A significant part of his report is spent analyzing wait times for people who sought addiction and mental health treatment during the period of his audit.
The audit found that for patients assessed as being high priority, only 44 per cent received treatment within the Department of Health's 14-day target.
How often that target was met also differed by health authority and region, with Saint John hitting the target 62 per cent of the time, the highest rate within the Horizon Health Network.
Campbellton hit that same target 74 per cent of the time, the highest rate within the Vitalité Health Network.
Moncton hit that target at the lowest rate, with it only being met for 35 per cent of high-priority patients in the Horizon system and only 22 per cent of the time within Vitalité.
Martin's report also found that while the department has targets for wait times between assessment and treatment, it doesn't have any targets for the time it takes between a patient being referred and then being assessed.
Figures included in the report show how the number of people who've sought addiction and mental health services in New Brunswick has climbed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of referrals to such services climbed 37 per cent — from 23,679 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year to 32,454 for 2023-2024.
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