Category: Ministry of Health

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Summary

In 2000, a cohort of 1,398 Pacific infants, born in South Auckland, was recruited into the Pacific Islands Families (PIF) longitudinal study. In this study, the PIF cohort, aged 22 years, was surveyed about their gambling behaviours. This study follows previous surveys (at ages 9, 14 and 17 years) to examine gambling behaviour across time.

The Pacific Islands Families Study involved 470 22-year-old Pacific youth and found that their gambling participation was low and generally infrequent. 

The most popular activity was informal betting with family and friends, followed by gaming machines. For those that gambled the prevalence of risky gambling and experiencing gambling harms was high. 

Daily or weekly online gaming at age 14 significantly predicted gambling harms at age 22, so did engaging in multiple gambling activities and drinking alcohol at age 17. Few gender or ethnic differences were noted.

Associations with mental health and risk factors for risky gambling and gambling harms were the same as for the general population. 

Key findings included:

Gambling participation

1. about one-third of participants had gambled in the past year on an average of three gambling activities, and the gambling was generally infrequent. This was similar to when participants were aged 17 years old.
2. casino gaming machines, club gaming machines, and casino table games had the highest average monthly spending ($55.2, $51.1, and $50.4 respectively).
3. at age 22, while still most commonly gambling with friends (50%) or family (46.7%), more of them are gambling alone (21.3%) compared to at age 17 (5.2%)
4. at age 22, 13.2% of all participants gambled in a risky manner (this was 37.7% of those who gambled). The percentage of participants classified as problem gamblers increased with increasing age (4.7% at age 17, 6.8% at age 22), though results are not directly comparable due to different screens used in the surveys.

Gambling harm

5. about one-third of participants who gambled experienced between one and eight different harms from their gambling, mostly commonly feeling of regret.
6. about one-third of participants who gambled were worried about their gambling and two-fifths sought informal help from someone close to them. The percentage who had a lot of worry about their gambling doubled from 4.4% (age 17) to 8.6% (age 22).
7. risky gambling was statistically associated with less perceived quality of life and increased problematic behaviours such as aggression, intrusion1, and rule breaking2.  Gambling harms were statistically associated with rule breaking behaviour and depression.
8. 8.7% experienced negative consequences (mainly occasional worry) due to someone else’s gambling, with more than half of the ‘someone else’ being parents.

Predictors of gambling harm

9. daily or weekly online gaming at age 14 significantly predicted gambling harms at age 22, so did engaging in multiple gambling activities and drinking alcohol at age 17. 

Read the report

Pacific Islands Families Study: Young Adult Gambling Behaviours and Associated Risk Factors (PDF, 2 MB)

Note: The report is published on the AUT Gambling & Addictions Research Centre website.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Regional forensic mental health services are responsible for the care and treatment of special patients and restricted patients within the legislative framework of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 and the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003. Regional forensic mental health services have a focus on recovery and rehabilitation, but also need to maintain safety and security for tāngata whaiora and the public.

New Zealand legislation specifically allows for people who have been charged with or convicted of an offence, and who meet certain criteria in terms of their mental illness, to be treated for that condition in hospital. Treatment of mental illness can be an important step in helping an individual to acknowledge and address the reasons for their offending, and in doing so reduce the chances of future offending and significantly improve their wellbeing.

When managing special patients, forensic mental health services are required to balance the rights, treatment and rehabilitative needs of the individual patient against the safety of the public and the concerns of victims.

The clinical management of special patients lies with the patient’s responsible clinician. However, leave and change of legal status require consideration and approval by the Director of Mental Health and (depending on the legal status of the patient) the Minister of Health and/or the Attorney-General. This level of decision-making reflects the seriousness of special patients’ status and the need to ensure that a wide range of factors are considered when making decisions about such patients.

These guidelines are intended to foster consistent decision-making by clinicians, facilitate the administration of matters relating to special patient leave, and provide transparency around the processes used in reaching decisions about special patients.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Submissions close Monday, 2 December 2024 5:00pm.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Summary

The Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2024 sets out who we are and what we do, how we manage our business, our financial statements and statement of service performance as specified in Vote Health – Main Estimates of Appropriation 2023/24 and (where updated) in Vote Health – Supplementary Estimates of Appropriation 2023/24.

It provides a detailed breakdown of our achievements for the 2023/24 financial year and the progress made towards our six strategic objectives:

• Provide system-level leadership
• Drive system strategy and performance
• Be the Government’s primary advisor on health
• Future-proof our health system 
• Be the regulator of the health system 
• Transform ourselves.

Disclaimer: The graph for Figure 10, ‘Percentage of kaimahi who believe te ao Māori perspectives are relevant to their work’, differs from the print version of the Te Aho o Te Kahu 2023/23 Annual Report. This was due to an error where the graph for Figure 9, ‘Explain kaupapa Māori concepts’, was duplicated for both Figure 9 and Figure 10.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Summary

The Strategic Intentions 2024–2028 is how the Ministry informs Parliament and the public about:

1. the strategic objectives that the Ministry intends to achieve or contribute to over the medium term
2. what the Ministry intends to achieve with appropriations
3. the nature and scope of the Ministry’s functions and operations to achieve or contribute to the strategic objectives.

There are three main sections.

• Section one – introduction, including our purpose, functions and responsibilities, and our context
• Section two – our strategic direction, which includes our strategic priorities and priority activities
• Section three – how we operate as an organisation to achieve our strategic intentions. 

The document sets out the Ministry’s own strategic focus, functions and priorities aligned and contributing to, but distinct from those of the Government. 

The Ministry is responsible for reporting annually on progress against the Strategic Intentions 2024–2028 and what has been achieved with appropriations. Parliament sees information on performance reporting in the Ministry’s annual reports and information supporting the Estimates.

The Ministry’s Strategic Intentions 2024–2028 also includes the strategic intentions of Te Aho o Te Kahu – Cancer Control Agency. The agency is a departmental agency hosted by the Ministry and is operating within the Ministry’s strategic and policy framework.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Our climate is changing. These changes are affecting what we value most in our lives, including our health and wellbeing.

This first Health National Adaptation Plan (HNAP) is an important step towards placing health considerations at the forefront of the climate response of Aotearoa New Zealand. It sets the strategic direction and provides national-level priority actions for health-focused adaptation to climate change. 

The vision for the HNAP is ‘to protect the health and wellbeing of people and communities from the effects of climate change to achieve pae ora – healthy futures for all New Zealanders’. The aim of this deliberately broad scope is to ensure the health system can provide climate-resilient health services, while also addressing the broader direct and indirect effects of climate change on the health of communities, including those effects that sectors outside the health system contribute to.

The Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora has developed the HNAP as an action arising from New Zealand’s first National Adaptation Plan. The HNAP also reflects the health system’s own mandate to respond to climate change, most recently reiterated in the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Health 2024 – 2027.   

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

If a licensed provider wishes to use a drug checking testing method not on the approved lists (Table 2 and Table 3 on the Ministry of Health drug checking webpage), or to use a method they are not currently licensed for, they will need to satisfy the Director-General of Health (or delegated authority) that the technology is safe to implement and fit for its intended purpose. Licensed providers must show that their workforce is competent to use the drug checking testing methodology before they will receive approval. New testing methods can only be used by a licensed provider once written approval is received from the drug checking licensing team and the provider is licensed to do so.

Complete the following information for any requested additions of drug checking testing methods to a provider’s licence.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

If a licensed provider wishes to use a service delivery model not on the approved list (Table 1 of the Ministry of Health drug checking webpage), or wishes to use a model not currently licensed for, they will need to satisfy the Director-General of Health (or delegated authority) that the model is safe to implement and fit for its intended purpose. Licensed providers must show that their workforce is competent to use a service delivery model before they will receive approval. New models can only be used by a licensed provider once written approval is received from the drug checking licensing team and the provider is licensed to do so.

Complete this form for any requested addition of drug checking service models to a provider’s licence.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health

Summary

Group A streptococcus (GAS) bacteria is a pervasive pathogen, spread through airborne droplets and skin-to-skin contact, that may lead to invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS), post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (PSGN), acute rheumatic fever (ARF) or rheumatic heart disease (RHD). The onset of iGAS is often sudden, and the disease progresses rapidly. It can result in serious health outcomes such as loss of limbs or severe scarring, brain damage, hearing loss or learning disabilities. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. 

People with socio-economic disadvantage are at greater risk of GAS and iGAS infections; the prevalence of GAS infections is commonly associated with low-quality and inadequate housing. Lack of access to clean water, homelessness and drug injection are other contributing risk factors. 

Physiologically, the role of GAS infections in pharyngitis is well understood, likely because of its role in the sequalae of ARF. However, there is increasing recognition of the role of GAS skin infections in the development of iGAS, ARF, RHD and PSGN.

Since 2022, the number of iGAS cases reported has increased internationally, including in New Zealand. Case rates have increased beyond those recorded in 2017 (pre-COVID-19 pandemic), and cases in 2023 showed large ethnic disparities. In 2023, the decision was made to start the process to make iGAS a notifiable disease in New Zealand. The Deputy Director of Public Health commissioned this evidence brief in anticipation of iGAS being made a notifiable disease in 2024.

The brief reports on a systematic review of the prevalence of GAS skin infections in cases of iGAS, ARF, RHD and PSGN. It also reports on a scoping review of the evidence on risk factors and prevention of GAS skin infections and provides an analysis of knowledge gaps within the current evidence to inform future research priorities.

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health