Health Minister Orders Independent Inquiry

Health Minister Bill English has today ordered an independent inquiry into the events that led to a mentally ill man raping a woman in Levin last year.

"This is a tragic case and we need to know how it could have happened," Mr English said.

"I am advised an independent inquiry can be conducted quite quickly. But an inquiry will not be enough. We need to develop the mental health service so that people like this man, who need help, get it, right away.

"In my first few months as Health Minister I have already begun talking to people involved with mental health. There is a consensus that services need to focus more on the needs of each person rather than on the diagnosis or who provides the service," he said.

"We also need to look at the coordination, or lack of it, between drug and alcohol abuse services and services for people with a mental illness," Mr English said.