Our national telehealth service is struggling to operate its 24-hour phone line

Significant staffing issues mean Whakarongorau Aotearoa's specialist mental health team, is being forced to make distressed callers wait longer.

An internal document shows the early mental health response unit has a budget for 29 full-time clinicians.

But it has significant gaps in rosters because of staff turnover, sick leave, and recruitment challenges.

In a recent four-week period, more than half of shifts were understaffed.