Survey of mental health and addiction consumers, family and whānau goes live in September

A Ngā Poutama survey of consumers of mental health and addiction (MHA) services, their family and whānau goes live on 1 September 2019.

The survey will capture the perspectives of consumers, family and whānau who have recently used district health board (DHB) MHA services (inpatient and community). The survey is not for clients using non-DHB services. The survey will collect information about people’s experience of using the mental health or addiction service. The survey will be live from 1 September 2019.

Consumers who were discharged or transitioned between services between 1 September and 15 October 2019 will be invited to participate. The survey will also include their families and whānau (including chosen support people, who may not be biologically related). Consumers, family and whānau will have until 21 November to finish completing the survey.

During the last week of August district health board (DHB) staff will receive an information packs containing flyers and posters, which they can use to encourage consumers of DHB MHA services to participate in the survey.

In August 2018, the Health Quality & Safety Commission (the Commission) conducted a Ngā Poutama survey of MHA staff. This survey successfully included the views of over 2,500 staff in the MHA sector, and has subsequently been used to inform quality improvement initiatives. Both the Ngā Poutama staff survey, and the upcoming Ngā Poutama consumer, family and whānau survey, underpin the national MHA quality improvement programme coordinated by the Commission.

Sector feedback on the staff survey has highlighted the importance of capturing both staff and consumer perspectives. The survey findings will be used to support consumer-centred approaches to quality improvement in MHA. It is vital that service quality improvement is informed and prioritised by consumer, family and whānau voices, including their experience of using MHA services. The survey will be repeated in approximately two years to monitor improvements in consumer, family and whānau experience.

Survey findings will be shared with DHBs and consumer, family and whānau groups to inform local quality improvement initiatives. Results will be available in early 2020.

The Commission has experience in conducting patient experience surveys, with both hospital inpatient and primary care surveys conducted on an ongoing basis since 2014 and 2016 respectively. We are drawing from the proven methodology used in this work.