Mental health and addiction services data: calculating waiting times

The waiting time is the number of days from the date a client was referred to a mental health or addiction service and the day when the client was first seen by the service.

• Clients are referred to mental health or addiction services. The services clients receive are recorded against a referral record and submitted to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
• Referrals that should not be counted such as declined referrals are excluded from the report
• Health NZ uses data from PRIMHD, the national mental health and addiction information collection of service activity and outcomes data, to calculate waiting times
• Waiting times are calculated for all mental health referrals at district providers, and all addiction referrals at district or Non-Government Organisations (NGO) providers.