A Southern District Health Board committee approved a
three-year mental health and addiction plan yesterday, amid
apprehension of tightening funds for mental health.
Up to 70% of people who sought help for mental health or
addiction problems actually had a problem with both, and the
health sector was failing them, those attending a mental
health workshop heard.
The National Health
Board has agreed to review the mental health "ring-fence"
funding formula for the Southern District Health Board to
find out whether an "aberration" is forcing it to overspend
in the area, chairman Joe Butterfield says.
A group of Dunedin psychotherapists is concerned there is no
counselling service for cancer patients at Dunedin Hospital
following a staff resignation, but a limited service will be
available from mid-February.
As Otago's mental-health sector braces for spending cuts, a
visiting Italian psychiatrist says the secret of a successful
mental-health service is integrating physical and mental
health and allowing people access to 24-hour help centres.
Notions of liberty and freedom are problematic when it comes
to imposing mental-health compulsion orders, University of
Otago law Prof John Dawson told mental-health nurses in
Dunedin yesterday.
Approval for the Southern District Health Board's district
annual plan means building work should soon begin on the
relocation of Dunedin Hospital's acute mental health ward to
Wakari Hospital.
New Zealand would benefit considerably if more attention was
paid to "Gross National Happiness" instead of simply to Gross
National Product, a Canadian health specialist, Michael
Pennock, says.
"If you make a difference for one family, then it's
worthwhile." Since the death of her teenage son in 2003,
Oamaru woman Helen Algar has been involved in raising public
awareness about text-message bullying.
