DHB need to listen to staff, union says
To best support the mental health of vulnerable young people, Nelson Marlborough Health needs to listen to its staff, a union says.
In January, it was announced the region’s after hours specialist mental health crisis team for children and adolescents would be disbanded, with the service provided by a team that catered to all ages.
PSA organiser Mike Cunliffe said the union recently engaged in mediation with Nelson Marlborough Health about proposed changes to its adult mental health crisis team.
It was thought the adult crisis team would take over the afterhours care provided by the child and adolescent crisis team.
Cunliffe said the proposed roster would have ‘‘severely stretched’’ the service had it gone ahead.
As a result of the negotiations, the DHB made changes to the adult crisis team roster.
He implored it to ditch the proposal to disband the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) crisis team.
‘‘We are pleased the DHB has shown willingness to listen to mental health workers’ voices before they charge ahead with plans that could hurt vulnerable people in our region.
‘‘But the Nelson mental health crisis team could now face even heavier workloads if the CAMHS crisis team is disbanded.’’
Cunliffe said he had spoken with a number of staff at Nelson Marlborough Health who were concerned about the loss of the dedicated crisis service for youth.
He said the team provided a ‘‘highly specialised service’’ which included 24-hour crisis care for under-18s. ‘‘It is too valuable to lose.’’ Information from the Ministry of Health between 1992 and 2013 showed there were 72 youth suicides in the Nelson Marlborough region.
In the similar-sized Hutt Valley DHB, 95 youth suicides were recorded in the same time period and in the Hawkes Bay region, 113.
‘‘This is not a negative reflection on other similar sized DHBs, but is more about how the Nelson CAMHS specialised 24/7 crisis ser- vice could be a model or an innovative way of getting a better result across New Zealand in the prevention of youth suicide.’’
In a statement Jane Kinsey, general manager mental health, addictions and disabilities support services, said it was pleased to have made good progress with the PSA and staff.
‘‘We will continue to work with staff and the PSA to ensure we have a robust and responsive crisis services. We are committed to continue to strengthen our response to mental health care in our community.’’