Mental health services for children and adolescents in New Zealand, outcomes, and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA).

Patients and their families as well as communities, service providers, and funders of services would be united in their desire that children and adolescents who require mental health services should receive those services. There would also be agreement that treatment delivered by these services should be safe, effective, and (given that resources for these mental health services are limited) delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, there would be a consensus that outcomes of treatment are extremely important and that there is a need to evaluate these in a valid manner. This article reviews current access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in New Zealand as well as issues relevant to the introduction of routine outcome measurement in these services; and critically appraises the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the first routine outcome measure introduced for CAMHS by the Ministry of Health (MOH)--the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (the HoNOSCA). It is argued that the evidence base for the implementation of routine outcome measurement is poor, that systematic evaluation of its introduction should occur, and that already under-funded CAMHS should be adequately resourced to support the additional work involved.