The Province’s health and wellness department is saying recent investments in crisis and urgent
Antigonish MLA Randy Delorey, Health and Wellness Minister
care services are helping shrink wait times for residents looking for mental health services.
In a release issued last week, the department stated the most serious cases are when people experience a mental health crisis and those people now have faster access to care through the 24/7 provincial mental health crisis line as well as response teams at hospital across the province.
The next level of care is considered urgent, and those people should be seen within seven days. Currently, 96 per cent of adults assessed as urgent are seen within that window, up from 85 per cent last year. In eastern, northern, and western zones, 95 per cent of children and youth are seen within seven days, up from 88 per cent last year.
Health and Wellness minister Randy Delorey said there is still work to do but the department continues to focus on new programs and expanding supports for existing programs.
Some of the investments Delorey mentioned include creating 10 more health care positions to expand mental health crisis and urgent care teams across the province and at the IWK, and enhancing the provincial mental health crisis line.