find the extra funding for mental health. Where will they
find that extra funding for to make up for
this Government's
extra funding for to make up for
Chair. I
Chair. I am going to call Barbara
Kuriger. Thank you, Mr Chair. It is
a pleasure to speak this afternoon. I
also want to, as others
have done, acknowledge Mrs King. Mrs
King spent a lot of
a lot of time on our Health Committee this Parliament and it
was good for her to come back in a
couple of weeks ago and good too
have her in the room
again. So I want to
want to acknowledge what she's brought to
brought to it. Look, we've talked a
lot today
Mr Coleman, Dr Coleman, our Minister, mentioned before
million that's being invested extra into health
million that's being invested extra
actually biggest increase in 11 years. We heard a member over there
talking before about the Southern
DHB. They're
DHB. They're actually going to get another
DHB. They're actually going to get
mention, too, health boards that are in
mention, too, health boards that are
electorate, Taranaki DHB will be getting an
electorate, Taranaki DHB will be getting an extra 12 million andka
A lot of things grabbing attention this afternoon is the
funding for
the suicide rate. One suicide is too many. It is one of those issues we
have to grapple with, but we
won't grapple with it
by blasting people. We have to sit down and listen.
grapple with it by blasting people. We have to sit down and listen. I
had a young constable stitch went of
to talk to Dr Coleman about his experience. So it
is about sitting down
down and listening. I can tell you the Mount
Buller that has gone last year and the year
before, but the promised money,
which totals up to
before, but the promised money,
rural mental health, that's been put into the field days, a lot of that
has been put into
helping people out in the community who can understand
what to do when somebody
stressed. We talk a lot about what
goes on in the hospital but, tule, it's
having our community people
prepared. What was really cool was this
year to see the Health Hub going on and
everyone being able to visit
that Health Hub. Farers were coming in
farmers were coming in for their wellness checks. It wasn't only
about pros at the same time cancer,
breast
about pros at the same time cancer, breast cancer, diabetes,
blood pressure checks
breast cancer, diabetes, blood
have to realise a lot of people historically haven't been
equipped to pick it up. To get
those people out there I have to say it's made a
huge difference to what's
going on in our rural communities during
dairy downturn. While talking about
appropriations, I want to put a call out
to our dairy farmers today because
we've had a very good announcement
about forecast payout which now has a 7 in
front of it instead of a
forecast payout which now has a 7 in
said that, mental health is not all about money. People have
life, marriage breakups,
marriage breakups, they have things that go wrong. It is good to
have those out in the community
who can frontline it. Really, it
is about listening. Not about thinking that
we know all the answers
around it. We have to find out from people
what's concerning them.
I think it really important too,
the Minister mentioned
Minister mentioned before, in the Budget I was really pleased to be on
the committee when
we went through the process of ding the legislation
around the settlement
the process of ding the legislation
the legislation around the settlement for the care workers.
I can't think of a better
bunch of people to be paid out this
extra money because as the Minister
mentioned before, they really
do work which
work which is extremely important in our community. They're looking after
our most vulnerable, our most
disabled. Meanings our
elderly
can stay in their homes for much longer than they every used to.
I wanted to talk on one more subject, that is around
the
is accounted for here as well. I think that's pretty important,
everyy
think that's pretty important,
work in a very remote area and you have people in ambulances
by themselves, not only is it
dangerous when you come across one
of those patients who doesn't particularly
wants their services and
gets particularly aggressive but also,
someone has to drive while
the other takes care of the patient. It is
a really, really good move. It
will add to the safety of the driver and
the patients. Thank you,
Mr Chair. Ria Bond. Thank you, Mr Chair. After
listening to the Minister's
response, it motivated
me to get back up and take another
call. I do want to talk about, actually,
the fact that I feel very lucky
that I get to meet with
many professionals within the healthcare sector and
they tell me that
they are desperately
desperately trying to work within the system and they are telling
me, they simply do not have
resources to deal with mental
health. I want to pick up from
where Barbara Kuriger talked about