Thank you for the invitation to speak at this occasion.

I’d like to acknowledge my Parliamentary colleague the Hon Steve Maharey, Palmerston North Mayor Mark Bell-Booth, MASH Trust CEO Brad Grimmer, Quality Health New Zealand CEO Barbara Donaldson, and the many people that make up the MASH operation.

It’s great to see so many people here today. I know that each one of you has made some contribution to the development of quality mental health services, which aim to have the most positive outcomes possible for the people who use these services.

Improving the mental health of New Zealanders is important to the Labour Government. It is one of the 10 key goals for health sector work as outlined in the New Zealand Health Strategy.

The kinds of actions that need to be taken to reach this goal are clarified in the Blueprint for Mental Health Services in New Zealand, and this Blueprint is about two-thirds implemented.

This has already been a long and arduous process. Although we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go yet.

Across the country, DHBs have worked extremely hard to put in place regional mental health networks, and good systems of relationship and communication with communities and stakeholders, including non-Government organisations. These networks and relationships will be a crucial vehicle for the regional planning process.

MASH has shown that it is committed to implementing the Blueprint. It seeks to establish and continue to improve on the quality of its services. It puts emphasis on the development and training of its staff. And it has adopted a recovery and rehabilitation approach.

We value this commitment and recognise that NGOs, like MASH, are important to our mental health service. NGOs contribute, in many and varied ways, to the development of healthy social environments and healthy communities.

This Government is committed to consulting with NGOs on key policy development, including NGOs in secondment opportunities for work experience and mentoring, providing opportunities for NGOs to upskill and network through forums and information sharing and educating NGOs on the opportunities available for participating in the development of health and disability national and district strategy and plans.

We hope MASH’s relationship with the Ministry of Health continues to develop, be mutually beneficial and productive.

We are here today to celebrate the quality of the service provided by MASH. But it is worth noting that while quality providers provide the foundation to quality services, it is the quality of the overall system that will determine whether we are really meeting consumer needs.

We want people to feel supported by the whole system, not just by one contact within this system. We want people to feel that services are collaborating and working along the same pathway toward an individual’s recovery.

I expect to see quality providers, like MASH, work with other providers in this district towards ensuring that we have a quality system. I expect MASH to allow others to benefit from its strengths.

The different parts of the system must work together towards common goals, to avoid duplication and delay, and to maximise collaboration and cooperation.

I know that there are representatives here from other agencies both within and on the periphery of the health sector. Representatives from MidCentral DHB, Te Runanga o Raukawa, Massey University and others.

You too can feel proud for your efforts in assisting MASH in their steps towards improving the mental health of New Zealanders in the lower North Island. Sharing resources – and therefore outcomes and results – can only benefit those in the sector and ultimately the users of mental health services.
An additional $20 million has been allocated for service expansion this year. I also expect DHBs to allocate a fair share of demographic and price adjusted funding to mental health services.

However, it is not just money that the mental health sector needs. Internationally New Zealand is doing well in its mental health developments. But we still have a long way to go to achieve primary and specialist sector service delivery levels to meet the needs of people with mental illness.

The message internationally is clear: we need to continue on our planned path, working together in and across health structures and with other sectors, agencies and the community. It is not an easy path, but one that is becoming increasingly important as the burden increases.

'Regionalisation' will continue to be a strong theme until effective frameworks are in place for those in the mental health sector to work together effectively in the north, midland, central and southern regions.

As many of you will know, senior World Health Organisation adviser for mental health Dr Thom Bornemann visited New Zealand in October 2001. He commented that, “Moving authorities and responsibilities closest to where services are located, but maintaining the overall accountability from a national and regional level, are key to making services as effective as possible, and I think New Zealand is dealing with this issue well.”

New Zealand can be proud that its efforts compare well with those being made internationally.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the 2001 World Health Report. The theme of this report is “New understanding, new hope”.

The report builds on three key United Nations principles laid down a decade ago – that there shall be no discrimination on the grounds of mental illness; that as far as possible, every patient shall have the right to be treated and care for in his or her own community; and lastly, that every patient shall have the right to be treated in the least restrictive environment, with the least restrictive or intrusive treatment.

I strongly advocate for these principles and trust that as people directly involved in the mental health sector, these principles influence and guide all work that you do.
Whether our work is administrative, managerial or on the frontline, these principles should be in mind at all times and we should never lose sight of them.

We should also never lose sight of the fact that there are many, many positive things happening within our mental health service. There are plenty of mental health success stories that are never reported, as the culture of “accentuate the negative” continues.

Just this week I had the pleasure of being involved in the launch of a publication that chronicled the lives of 40 New Zealanders who suffered – and recovered from – mental illness. Their stories were profoundly touching, and showed that – contrary to what the opposition would have us believe – there is light at the end of the tunnel for the many people who will experience mental illness.

I’m sure many of you share my disappointment in the opposition’s persistent criticism of the services organisations like MASH provide, because that negativity simply contributes to the problems in recruiting for the mental health workforce.

We have come a long way and there is much to be proud of, just as MASH has a right to be proud of what it has achieved to date.

I wish MASH the best for continued quality provision of care. I’m sure MASH will continue to give new understanding and new hope to those with mental illnesses, and contribute to the success stories we unfortunately hear so little about. Thank you again for the invitation to speak today.