Psychiatrists are warning of a looming mental health staffing crisis and say urgent investment is needed to avoid a workforce cliff.
The Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists told RNZ that half of the current psychiatry workforce was retiring within a decade and one in five positions were vacant.
RANZCP board director Dr Mark Lawrence said urgent investment was needed to nearly double psychiatry training places.
"We don't have enough senior psychiatrists to then supervise our trainees and then we are not training enough trainees as well," he said. "It's a double-edged sword - if we don't do something soon, it's going to be a challenging space for all of us."
Lawrence said psychological distress was climbing, yet there had been a dramatic dropoff in New Zealanders accessing specialist mental health and addiction services over the past five years.
Services needed to meet the specific needs of Māori and Pasifika peoples, those living with long-term health conditions or disabilities, and people known to care, protection and justice services.
"There's been enduring concerns for Māori and Pasifika in terms of their access, particularly those aged between 15-25. That cohort is relatively underserved, and there's evidence that there's significant psychological distress in that particular group and it's that particular group that often have challenges in navigating the healthcare system."
The RANZCP also wanted increased inpatient beds and expanded school-based supports.
Services remain 'under pressure'
Health New Zealand executive national director of mental health and addiction Phil Grady said mental health and addiction services remained "under pressure", and recognised the need to grow the psychiatry workforce.
"We will continue to work with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists on workforce recruitment and retention initiatives," he said.
Grady said Health NZ had exceeded its annual workforce target for the mental health and addiction sector.
"We exceeded the annual workforce target in 2025/26, with 514 new professionals entering training, including 74 clinical psychology interns and 48 stage one psychiatry registrars," he said. "In addition, the first cohort has commenced training for the new psychology assistant role, in partnership with the New Zealand Psychologists board, with a $28.45 million investment to support the implementation of the role."
Grady said the mental health and addiction workforce grew by more than 11 percent across key professions between September 2023 and September 2025, and the RANZCP's figures differed to Health NZ's workforce reporting.
"Health NZ's data shows our psychiatrist vacancy rate has fallen from 20.9 percent in March 2024 to 15.6 percent March 2026," he said. "Vacant psychiatrist FTE reduced from 123.7 in March 2024 to 89.9 in March 2026."
Grady said too many young people were experiencing acute mental health challenges.
"The latest mental health target data shows 77.3 percent of people under 25 referred to specialist mental health and addiction services were seen within three weeks, and improving access for young people remains a key focus for Health NZ," he said.
"We are continuing to invest in additional mental health infrastructure and service capacity, including new and redeveloped acute and forensic inpatient facilities as part of wider efforts to improve access to mental health care."
College stands by figures
In a statement to RNZ, the college said it stood by its figures on the shortages in the profession.
"In Health NZ's Mental Health and Addiction Workforce Plan, released in November 2025, Minister Doocey states that "growing the Health NZ funded psychiatry workforce remains our biggest challenge with an almost 20 percent vacancy rate".
This is consistent with Health NZ workforce data released under the OIA process in September 2025, which showed 111.2 vacant psychiatry FTE against 580.2 funded psychiatry FTE nationally, equating to a vacancy rate of approximately 19.2%. We note that vacancy data were unavailable for some districts, meaning the true vacancy rate may be higher.
Most recently, Te Pou's 2025 Health NZ Te Whatu Ora workforce estimates, published in January 2026, estimated the psychiatry vacancy rate within public adult mental health and addiction services at 19.7%, making it the highest vacancy rate of any major clinical workforce.
A vacancy rate of 19.7% is, by any reasonable interpretation, approximately one in five. The College therefore stands by its characterisation that around one in five psychiatry FTE are vacant within the public system.
If Health NZ or the Minister are referring to a different or more recent dataset, we would welcome clarification regarding which figures they are using and whether those data are publicly available.
More broadly, the underlying issue is not in dispute. Health NZ's own workforce planning documents acknowledge psychiatry has one of the highest workforce vacancy rates in the mental health system and remains a significant challenge for access to specialist care.
