Government axes suicide help phone line as suicides spike

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This is your National Government at work, slashing social services so you can have a petty $20 tax cut right when those social services are in dire need…

Government axes $800,000 Lifeline contract

In March this year, the Ministry of Health axed a decade-long $800,000 contract for Lifeline to provide suicide-prevention training to frontline workers.

The funding cut, which was revealed to the Herald through documents provided to Labour under the Official Information Act, “devastated” Lifeline – an organisation that has worked to prevent suicide in New Zealand for more than 50 years.

The funding was shifted to a “new preferred supplier” after several contractors pitched for the work last November, a ministry official said.

…we have a suicide rate that may be 3 times higher than officials acknowledge, we have a suicide rate that continues to spike, we have a mental health service that is so underfunded that it is functionally broken and we have a Government who have only this month admitted Government policy has failed.

And so what does a Government do with a spiralling suicide rate and a mental health service in meltdown? Why the Government cut funding to Lifeline.

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/336213/workplace-stress-rising-sharply-report

    This is simply so cruel and heartless like back in the NAZI era.

    Why haven’t the media carried this on their platform Martyn?

    I cannot believe this as it must show that the situation is so bad that Government want to conceal it??

    Since the RNZ report today said that in a workplace study the depression amongst workers in NZ is in free fall and getting worse day by day, so this service is needed more than ever!!!!!

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/336213/workplace-stress-rising-sharply-report

    RNZ News. 1/8/17

    NEW ZEALAND HEALTH 5:57 am today
    Workplace stress rising sharply – report
    5:57 am today

    Michael Cropp Michael Cropp , Wellington Local Government Reporter
    @m_cropp michael.cropp@radionz.co.nz
    Workers are more stressed and half of them are turning up to work even when they are unwell, according to a just released workplace health survey.

    no caption Photo: 123RF
    The third Wellness in the Workplace report, which covers nearly 5 percent of all employees, shows workload, pressure to meet work targets and long hours are all making people more stressed at work.

    The survey, sponsored by Southern Cross Health and Business New Zealand, found almost half of workers are likely to turn up to their jobs when unwell.

    Overall stress or anxiety levels rose in the 2016 survey compared to two years earlier – with a net 23 percent of firms noting an increase, compared with 14 percent in 2014.

    Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope said stress was a problem for employers.

    “[Staff] may be less productive, it might affect their mood, it may affect their relationships with their co-workers. It can really undermine the relationships within a workplace.

    “Also, frankly, you want people to be happy at work,” he said.

    Many workplaces were trying to do their part by making sure managers had the right skills and attitudes to look after staff, and manage work levels, said Mr Hope.

    Switching off

    Organisational psychologist John Eatwell said the inability to leave work behind was a growing problem.

    “We’ve traditionally worked long hours, but now a lot of people have smart devices which gives them access to emails after hours.

    “Although that’s positive in terms of flexibility, it’s also negative in terms of people feeling as though they can work all the time,” he said.

    And when people do not switch off, or take breaks, they slow down.

    “Our brain is actually a muscle and 20 percent of the energy our body produces is used by our brain.

    “If we’re not giving ourselves breaks to switch off, then in fact we’re going to be fatigued and less effective,” he said.

    The survey also showed 46 percent still turned up to work, despite being unwell.

    ‘No one will do the work when they’re not there’ – CTU

    The Council of Trade Unions’ president Richard Wagstaff said both stress and turning up to work sick were a result of the pressure of the modern workplace, such as performance targets, higher workloads, and under-staffing.

    “For many people, no one will do the work when they’re not there. So they’ll just keep coming to work because of the pressure that they’re under at work to get things done.

    “It may reflect, too, that many people don’t have adequate sick leave provisions in their agreement, or they’re casual workers and they can’t afford to lose a day’s pay, so they need to turn up at work to pay the bills,” he said.

    Mr Wagstaff said employees – no matter how precarious their job – needed to be able to let their bosses know how they were doing, and to be able to take sick leave without fear.

    But perhaps it does not need to be this way.

    Mr Eatwell said New Zealanders worked longer than most at around 43 hours a week, yet the research shows the sweet spot for productivity is just 36 hours.

  2. surely a NACTIONAL government could not get any worse in inhumanity and cynicism

    ….and where is the mainstream media on this?

  3. Very strange behaviour by the Natzis, they are definitely not interested in the county’s mental health or fellow human beings well being ?

  4. I wonder whether Coleman had any empathy with his patients when he was a Doctor ?

    Is he actually a Doctor of Medicine ?

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