Mental health boost for Canty expected
ANALYSIS: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to make an announcement on mental health in Canterbury as part of her visit for the February 22, 2011, earthquake anniversary.
Seven years on, the community is still suffering.
Mental health inpatient services have been close to, or over, capacity since 2012. Children are waiting up to six months for mental health treatment. Suicide attempts have increased 60 per cent over the past five years, compared to 52 per cent nationwide.
Immediately after the February 2011 quake, mental health presentations lulled as communities rallied, neighbours talked to each other and support was easily accessible.
But since 2012, demand for mental health, addiction and domestic violence services has skyrocketed and the suicide rate has increased.
The Press‘ Hurt & Hope investigation into the region’s mental health post-quake, published in September, found Canterbury was in the grips of an ongoing mental health crisis and the solutions were complex.
Nearly 17 per cent of Cantabrians have received mental health support since 2011. People on the frontline, including mental health workers, officials, police and non-government groups agreed services were strained and under-resourced and the issues people faced were more severe than they were pre-quake. Most said Government funding had not kept up with demand.
International research shows disasters can have long-term mental health impacts – 10 to 20 per cent of people have difficulties for several years post-disaster – and suggests policymakers allocate resources towards the most vulnerable in the five to 10 years after the disaster.
The previous Government gave the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) an extra $106 million to help allay those pressures. It represents about 1 per cent of the board’s funding over that period (last year its budget was $1.5 billion).
The CDHB made it clear it was not enough. The board was said to be ‘‘at war’’ with the Government over funding in the lead up to last year’s election.
Labour campaigned on promises to repair the relationship and increase mental health funding nationwide.
Now Labour is in power, it remains to be seen whether Ardern and Health Minister David Clark will deliver.
It appears they have made a good start, with several meetings with the CDHB and other health authorities under their belt.
Labour promised to invest $30m over three years for 80 new mental health staff for Canterbury and Kaiko¯ ura schools. It is understood an announcement on this should come before the Budget in May. This will be a good place to start, but will probably not be enough to fix the region’s woes.
Last year, the CDHB made a request, which the previous Government rejected as ‘‘inappropriate’’, for an extra $7.2m ‘‘to intervene earlier and avoid acute hospital admission’’ through a residential service and more community mental health staff.
The need for this is still there and is regularly mentioned at board meetings.
Mental health services for children, mothers and babies, and people with eating disorders are still at the derelict, quake-damaged Princess Margaret Hospital, which families of patients have described as ‘‘appallingly depressing’’ and ‘‘disgusting’’.
The previous Government left plans to relocate the services in limbo for years until it finally committed to moving them to the Hillmorton Hospital campus within the next three years.
The new Government has not said anything about the plan. The indicative business case for the move, which was approved in September, is yet to be released publicly.
Mental health staff and patients will likely welcome reassurance the move is still going ahead.