Northland meth action health funding not certain

Northland health board general manager of mental health and addictions Ian McKenzie and Inspector Justin Rogers at a press conference after Operation Ghost.

Future health funding is not a done deal for a bold Northland pilot scheme aimed at counteracting the meth scourge's harmful effect on the community.

Te Ara Oranga's future funding cloud comes as some quarters are calling for the pilot to receive dedicated funding and also be rolled out in other regions.

The combined Northland District Health Board and police scheme aimed at reducing harm caused by methamphetamine, was publicly launched in September last year.

While the police focus on catching and prosecuting criminal activity behind the drug known as meth or P, police also refer users to the health board's treatment, education and community-based help services.

In the six months from October 2017 to March 2018, more than 300 methamphetamine users were referred to Northland DHB for treatment, 150 of those referred by police.

Police Minister Stuart Nash has congratulated the police on their part and said Northland Police would continue to support Te Ara Oranga from within existing budget baselines.

That means the harm-reduction efforts trialled in the pilot are now absorbed into day-to-day police operations.

But a Ministry of Health spokesman said it is not certain the one-year Te Ara Oranga pilot will get longer-term funding from the health budget.

It is too soon to tell what the results of a ministry-funded evaluation of the pilot will be, MOH Addictions Manager Richard Taylor said.

Te Ara Oranga was set up with $3 million, sourced from the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act; $2 million was for the health component and $1 million for the police costs.

That funding expired on March 31, with the police since paying their own costs and the health component funded by MOH until December this year.

''This is in addition to ministry funding already available to district health boards for mental health and addiction services,'' Taylor said.

On top of the existing extension, the MOH recently funded an evaluation of Te Ara Oranga and is currently considering the findings, he said.

''At this stage, it is too early to determine longer-term outcomes.''

MOH said New Zealand Health Survey data indicates the prevalence of methamphetamine use in New Zealand has dropped over recent years.

In Northland, police and health services are still battling the massive personal and social impact from the drug.

A clinician appointed in Whangarei Hospital emergency department (ED), as a result of Te Ara Oranga, started screening for methamphetamine in patients in January this year.

Of 1832 people screened in the first six months, 41 admitted they used methamphetamine, with 20 of them accepting referral to support services.

''Northland DHB and police are committed to working together to reduce the prevalence of methamphetamine in our communities and the related harm caused,'' general manager of NDHB Mental Health and Addiction Services, Ian McKenzie said.

''The referral pathway between our agencies ensures that anyone who would benefit from treatment is offered the opportunity.''

Non-clinical areas of Te Ara Oranga include four whānau support groups and Employment Works. Since the start of the programme, Employment Works has had 69 referrals and helped place 33 people into new jobs.

Northland Police Inspector Dean Robinson said the recent Operation Ghost was a great example of the Te Ara Oranga partnership, with 29 people referred by police to treatment services as a result of that operation alone.

All up, the police activities around meth between August last year and this June have seen 150 police referrals to Te Ara Oranga.

Those police activities relating to meth include 48 arrests, 23 firearms seized, 49 search warrants, 16 'reports of concern' relating to 36 children.

The eight-month long Operation Ghost ended in June with initial arrests of 11 men and 13 women, the seizure of about $47,000 in cash, 72g of meth - with an estimated street value of $36,000, half a kilo of cannabis, firearms, a Taser and stolen property.

Twenty properties were searched across Northland and more than 200 drug-dealing charges laid. Gang members and associates were among those charged.