The New Zealand government has accepted all 16 recommendations from an independent review of national mental health and addiction telehealth services, including moves to establish a dedicated 24/7 suicide prevention crisis line and trial proactive follow-up calls through 1737.
The review found the three services examined – Whakarongorau Aotearoa, Youthline and Lifeline Aotearoa – had the basic clinical systems needed to support people experiencing acute distress, but identified significant problems with access, integration, information sharing and monitoring across the wider system.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said Health NZ would commission Whakarongorau to pilot proactive follow-up calls for up to 1000 people experiencing acute distress following an initial telehealth interaction.
Peer support through 1737 will also be expanded from 2pm-10pm to 9am-midnight seven days a week, supported by five additional full-time equivalent peer support workers. The government expects this to provide another 15,000 to 20,000 contacts a year.
A dedicated 24/7 national suicide prevention crisis line function will meanwhile be included in Health NZ’s upcoming procurement of national mental health and addiction telehealth services.
Mr Doocey has also asked officials for advice on introducing a dedicated mental health and addiction telehealth target aimed at improving wait times.
The measures follow an independent review commissioned by the Minister for Mental Health examining whether the three national providers were equipped to support people experiencing acute distress.
The review found clinical safety systems, triage, risk assessment processes and governance arrangements were in place within individual providers.
However, it could not provide assurance that calls were being received and answered in a timely manner or that the services were adequately integrated with the wider mental health, primary care and emergency response system.
ABANDONMENT
Across the three providers, about 46 per cent of calls were abandoned, with around 54 per cent answered, based on approximately 233,375 calls a year.
The review found abandonment rates of between 29 and 33 per cent for Whakarongorau’s 1737 mental health and addiction line.
Lifeline’s main line recorded abandonment rates of between 57 and 69 per cent, while its Tautoko suicide crisis service recorded rates of between 49 and 68 per cent.
Youthline recorded an overall abandonment rate of 31.2 per cent across channels. Its phone abandonment rate was significantly higher at 74.6 per cent in 2025, although callers are redirected to text or webchat after around three minutes and some continue their interaction through those channels.
Average waits for 1737 were between 21 and 26 minutes, with about half of calls answered within 10 minutes.
Youthline calls that were not diverted to digital channels were answered in around two minutes, while Lifeline’s main line took approximately five to six minutes and Tautoko around three to four minutes.
DIGITAL CHANNELS
The review also highlighted changing use of digital channels.
Youthline routinely redirects people waiting on the phone to text or webchat and text-based conversations now account for about 86 per cent of its engagement.
The review said different channel designs could affect who was able to access support and recommended expanding contact options for people whose needs were not well served by voice calls.
It also identified gaps in the flow of information between services.
Whakarongorau’s 1737 service does not routinely share consultation reports with GPs or specialist services and there is no mechanism for transferring callers to providers outside Whakarongorau’s own portfolio.
The review found data collected across the system was not standardised and outcome information was largely absent, limiting the ability of providers and funders to determine what happened to people after they were referred or escalated.
It recommended developing a shared clinical practice and quality framework, an outcomes and data measures framework and stronger referral pathways between telehealth providers, primary care, community providers, specialist mental health services and emergency services.
The review also called for a dedicated service framework for children using mental health and addiction telehealth services, after finding increasing numbers of children aged under 12 were contacting services operating under models not designed for them.
Mr Doocey said the findings reinforced the need to improve both access and connections between services.
“Too many people are not getting through quickly enough and we do not always have enough visibility of what happens after someone is referred or escalated to another service,” he said.
The government recently announced more than $10 million in additional telehealth funding for Lifeline, Youthline and Whakarongorau, which it expects will support around 20,000 additional mental health and addiction contacts across phone, text and digital channels.
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