Antidepressant medications dispensed to children and teenagers increased 53 per cent in the past five years, according to a report on the state of New Zealand’s public mental health sector published today. Antipsychotic medications have also increased sharply.

The stark increase in prescribing is one of several issues identified by the watchdog in its latest assessment of the sector, which also includes a doubling of staff vacancies, a sudden fall in the number of people accessing government-funded telehealth services and websites, and fewer people accessing the specialist services that treat people with the most severe conditions.

Youth Health Advocate Dame Sue Bagshaw joined Simon Barnett & James Daniels.

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