Last week Green MP Kevin Hague announced his resignation from Parliament. As a former DHB CEO (West Coast) and his party’s spokesperson on Health, he had some first-hand insights into the poor state of mental health services in this country, and had recently been supportive of our family’s attempts to get some accountability for our son’s death while in the care of those services.
Among the statistics he mentioned in a parting statement was a comparison between spending on a new road safety initiative ($188,000 per death, if you can use such a crass measurement), and the spending on the Government’s recent youth suicide initiative ($11,000 ‘per death’). Remember, New Zealand has for some time had one of the very worst youth suicide rates in the entire world, and current overall suicide rates are at record levels, nearly twice that of the annual road accident death rate.
Hague had earlier this year written to the Government’s Chief Health Apologist Jonathan Coleman, asking for a full-scale review of the country’s mental health services, echoing calls made by families such as ours in the last couple of years. Coleman responded that there would not be a review, and that New Zealand’s mental health services were “robust, comprehensive and customer focused.”
Hundreds of families, and thousands of others who have communicated with us since our son’s death over 18 months ago, would not only strongly disagree with such self-serving spin, but would – if they could find any – probably want to call out the men in white coats to take Coleman away in a straight-jacket, and place him in seclusion for a period long-enough to recover from his delusions.
The truth is that mental health services, when they are available, are creaking at the seams even worse than the overall public health system. Staff numbers are insufficient and staff are poorly remunerated for the work they do, facilities are antiquated or were never adequate, community mental health services are underfunded and sparse or unavailable in many areas and support for vulnerable patients and their families is missing.
Most staff, and others involved, are so ‘head down, arse-up’ in their day-to-day work and issues that they remain mute when they see things falling apart around them. Fortunately, the junior doctors’ strike announcement shows one part of the health sector is aware that they are being forced to bear the brunt of underfunding and a focus on devolving health services to the private sector; it would be nice to think that the groups – including unions – representing other under-pressure workers such as nurses, orderlies and cleaners would also recognise they had the same interest in standing up to their bosses and funders.
Health service failings are so evident in the mental health area, and staff action so lacking, that I was encouraged when my partner Jane this week attended a forum with community and DHB mental health staff, and a handful of family representatives, to look at changes that need to be made in Waikato DHB’s mental health services, and reported that some community mental health workers had made quite radical statements about changes needed. It is hoped that voices like theirs will start to join those of families and communities demanding change – which will clearly have to predominantly come from outside.
Dave Macpherson is a Waikato DHB Candidate after his son died from mental health incompetence.
Yes Dave,
Our public Radio (RNZ National) has been also now high jacked by the corrupt Key National Government.
RNZ apparently now are censured by Government agencies, (under MBIE) and now cant say anything negative about Government!!!!
So we have no criticism of anything this Government does any more so we are now defenceless, no wonder why the leaders and agencies are “delusional Dave as they have all been dumbed down like the whole country now has also been brain-dead.
NZ has no democracy NOW JUST A DICTATORSHIP.
I warned many times to Martyn this would happen and we needed to take back the rightful half of the voters taxpayer piece of RNZ/TVNZ back into all opposition parties to re-educate the voters as to what is going on but so far after 12 months no one is listening.
Can you place a legal fund raising for a new “NZ political public free speech media” portal on a website like “Give a little” or others to begin raising funds for the opposition parties legal challenge and free speech groups to place a writ in the court to seize our half of the public media for “the public interest” please now before the 2017 election next June/July 2017 so we can wake NZ up again before it’s to late?
TV one staff have been gagged and have you listened to Patrick Gower lately he is so far up JK’s bum it is sickening maybe he wants his own show so if he keeps greasing and grovelling he will get it. Time to get rid of the muppets in power
I agree with Dave in some respects, but living this suicidal nightmare with a life-threatening stress disorder, I can see several areas where he has got it wrong. I have spent15 years studying why the system was so bad and have created solutions that SHOULD BE HAPPENING NOW according to law, I’m pretty sure it is someone like me who should be in these meetings – no chance of that, having tried for years. Sadly Dave blocked me from his facebook page when I started to tell the shocking truths and suggested I knew the solutions as well.
It scares the hell out of me that it is still people who aren’t actually mentally injured or ill that are deciding how to FIX services. Whether its those people who got us in this mess or the family/friends of people who are suicidal/unwell.
I’m currently working on a business innovation application based on disability rehabilitation and it includes mental injury and illness. My rehabilitation model and business plan have been around for years – ignored for years by a thousand different people with power and influence.
If anybody wants to see what people are entitled to under NZ law and what our government are illegally withholding then they should have a read jrmurphypoet.com . I hope Dave and his family read it as well.
Lastly could someone please find me a lawyer who will do civil legal aid because I need protection from police and others to stop the punitive use of systems they say are there to help me. When you are unwell and police demand you remove your underwear when you have your period (for chalking a poem begging for help on wall of a newspaper building) – you know there something seriously wrong. When you are trespassed from mental health art NGO for writing poetry about how bad mental health services are & human rights commission say that OK – you know there is something seriously wrong. When you make complaint after complaint of human rights abuses to Human Rights Commission / Ombudsman / Health & Disability Commission, UN, police etc and you are either ignored or ridiculed, discredited, persecuted and discriminated against for it – you know there is something seriously wrong
Kia kaha to us all
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