The Ministry of Health's Director of Mental Health, Dr John Crawshaw, publicly released the Section 99 Inspection into Canterbury - Waitaha Adult Inpatient and Associated Mental Health Services in August 2025.
The report made 18 recommendations across governance, care, and resourcing functions to improve services, supported by a 12-month monitoring programme and quarterly visits by the Director of Mental Health to understand and assess progress.
The second visit was completed in February 2026. Following the visit, Dr Crawshaw has said, "Visible progress has been made since the report was published and it is clear that the leadership team is committed to implementing all 18 report recommendations.
"Staff across the service continue to work to make improvements and deliver mental health services to the region."
Dr Crawshaw said there have been some notable gains since the first monitoring visit, these include an increased Lived Experience workforce and improvements in partnerships with Māori has advanced with a steering group established with mana whenua representatives.
"There is still significant work to do over the coming months with a number of complex challenges to overcome. Particular attention needs to be paid to removing recruitment barriers."
The Ministry of Health is continuing to work with Health New Zealand to support Canterbury with progressing these areas.
Further visits to assess the services and progress against the recommendations are scheduled to take place in May, and August 2026.
