Where is the evaluation report for government's 5-year mental health plan? Advocate, opposition want to know
While 5-year mental health system plan was completed last year, the final report is still missing
Four months after Newfoundland and Labrador's Health Department announced it would soon publish a roundup report on the provincial mental health plan Towards Recovery, that evaluation is yet to be released.
It's a delay both the official opposition and a mental health advocate criticize.
"I want to know where it is," said Kristi Allan, who pushes for better mental health and addictions services in the province.
"On March 10, 2023, the government said that it was coming in a few weeks. It's still not out. Is it because it's summer? Is it because they're not paying attention to it? It's extremely frustrating."
Towards Recovery, the five-year action plan to improve mental health care in Newfoundland and Labrador was implemented in 2017. It included 54 recommendations compiled by an all-party committee.
These were "substantially complete" as of March 31, 2022, and presented as completed during a mental health forum one year later. In a government news release on March 10, the Health Department announced the "final evaluation report is expected to be released in the coming weeks".
Prior to that update, in August 2022, CBC News was told by a department spokesperson that "a final Towards Recovery report will be released fall 2022." A follow up email in early December remained without response.
Allan believes a lack of frequent public updates shows a lack of government accountability.
The report, she emphasized, is more than just another piece of paper — rather, it's crucial to determine the necessary next steps in improving mental health care.
"It matters so much to someone who is struggling with what's out there, what's next — is something coming that's going to be better?" said Allan.
"I can say, 'I think they failed.' But I want to be able to do that with fact and until they give us the evaluation, we can't."
PC MHA Paul Dinn, the opposition health critic, agreed with Allen, calling the absence of a final evaluation report "really disappointing".
"The urgency around this issue is huge and to be waiting another four months for the evaluation is just, it's unreal," he said.
"The sooner we hear this, the sooner stakeholders and those with lived experiences can offer input into whether it's doing what it should and where there are areas for improvement. But right now, we're in the dark."
Dinn suspects the delay might be due to the evaluation "not answering the true issues that we need addressed."
"I suspect there's a bit of editing going on and smoothing it out, making sure it's readable," he said.
"Yes, it's bureaucracy, there's no doubt about it. But at the end of this report, there's real people with real struggles and real needs. And that's what we need to be focused on."
Allan has taken matters into her own hands in an attempt to find out the cause of the delay. She filed an access-to-information request looking for all correspondence about Towards Recovery from Health Minister Tom Osborne between March 10 to early May.
She said she hasn't had success.
"Nothing was sent to and from Tom Osborne. I'm not saying he hasn't been briefed on anything but I find that concerning," said Allan, adding that she regularly checks the department's website for updates.
"I search it all the time and it seems like it's just disappeared, that it's on nobody's radar."
Uncertainty regarding any progress on provincial mental health care causes people with lived experience to lose hope, Allen said.
It's why she pleads with government to share any updates, both on the report and on any work regarding mental health care generally, with the public.
"It's so important that the public be aware and not just people behind the scenes," she said.
"I have been in a place where I'm just like, 'They don't care. Nothing's happening. Nothing's going to improve.' And I feel just so hopeless."
In response to an interview request by CBC News, a Health Department spokesperson said Health Minister Tom Osborne will be available for an interview once the evaluation report is released, which will be "in the near future".
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