"The Government continues to invest strongly in mental health with an extra $174 million over the next four years," Health Minister Tony Ryall says. "We are spending more on mental health than the previous Government ever did."http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1007/S00208.htm
"Savings in the 2010 Budget account for less than half of one percent of the $1.2 billion the Government spends on mental health each year."
"We have made savings from contracts that finished, from contracts where there was not sufficient uptake and from uncommitted money that has gone back into the health pot. None of these savings pose any risk to frontline services."
"This is all in the context of Labour quietly cutting more than $100 million from the health budget in the weeks leading up to the 2008 election."
"Several new and exciting mental health initiatives will be announced shortly. These are in addition to new initiatives announced last year such as $26 million for eating disorder services."
"The bottom line is that we are spending more on mental health services and providing more services to the public than ever before."
14 July 2010
Mental health funding – more than ever before
A press release from the National Government by Tony Ryall
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So where actually is all this money going Tony Ryall talks about and what are all these new and exciting mental health initiatives that will be announced shortly? From everything I have seen National 'take away' from the mental health services and from ACC, I suspect "new and exciting" is likely to mean "cost-cutting and brutal (or cheap and nasty)".
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, people continue to wait and die while National dance around waiting to announce their new initiatives... cos the last one (namely ACC Sensitive Claims Pathway) was such a success! We just can't wait for these ones!!!!!! NOT!