Mental health callouts on the rise for under-14s

St John ambulances attended more than half a million emergencies last year, up nearly 10 per cent from 2020, and there have been 50,000 additional 111 calls.

This increased demand has been exacerbated by Covid.

"The operating environment is very challenging, they're wearing PPE, they're hot, they're going in ED, it's taking longer to hand over the patient and all of that accumulates to workplace stress," St John deputy chief executive, Dan Ohs said.

Adding to that, there was a concerning rise in the number of mental health and suicide attempt incidents – which were up 30 per cent on the previous year.

"But the most disturbing trend out of these types of incidents, is the number involving patients aged under 14. This age group had a 36 per cent increase in 2021 (up 49 patients to 186 patients) compared to the previous year (137 patients) and was 77 per cent higher compared to 2019 (105 patients)," Ohs said.

Youthline has also been seeing the same trends.

"Youthline has seen an increase in young people reaching out to us for support and that has increased in the number of crisis interventions where we're engaging with a young person to engage in crisis support. In 2020 that was 1 in 40 contacts, in 2021 that raised to a rate of 1 in 25 contacts," Youthline's chief executive Shae Ronald said.

"While it's concerning, we also are really heartened by the fact young people are reaching out to St John, to us, and other clients and services for support."

Previous police data from November shows mental health-related events have increased by 60 per cent over the past five years and are predicted to increase by a further 44 per cent by 2025.

Last year, with the increased demand from Covid, police didn't attend around half of the mental health callouts they received.

With a change in approach needed, a trial has been running in Wellington over the past year where police, paramedics from the Wellington Free Ambulance and mental health experts from the Capital and Coast DHB worked together on mental health callouts.

Police said the pilot trial with the 'Wellington Co-Response Team' was a success and resulted in fewer admissions to the emergency department and better care for people on the site.

Now, other trials like these are underway across the country, in hopes it will become the norm for how emergency services head out to mental health callouts.

"At the moment St John is running two pilots. We're yet to see the results of those pilots but the early indicators are good, in terms of good relationships with DHB's, and mentoring and education for staff around how to deal with these patients in the community," Ohs said.

Youthline's Shae Ronald applauded these initiatives.

"It's really important to build a relationship with that person and ensure they feel safe, and they can trust the services engaging with them at the time and everyone can learn from each other around what works best, so I think absolutely a collaborative approach is the best option.

"We've seen the mental distress rates double from 2012 and the pandemic has worsened that. Some of the Government's investment is now rolling out but there's always more that would help. Ensuring there are services available when young people do reach out that is youth focused and accessible," Ronald said.

As the pandemic rages on, so too does the mental health crisis, meaning emergency services are still under the pump for the year ahead.

"It is stressful for our people, we have support in place but the repetitive nature of going to these sorts of patients of course takes it's toll on our staff and it takes it's toll at a time where the pressure on our services is increasing," Ohs said.

St John are warning Kiwis that while paramedics will respond as soon as possible to life-threatening and time critical emergencies, if your condition is not urgent there may be a delay in getting an ambulance to you.

This is due to the increased demand and time it takes to handle each patient with the additional Covid protocols.