One-Stop-Shop Health For Youth

Cooperation in politics and health marked the opening of a one-stop-shop for youth health today in South Auckland.

Health Minister Bill English (National) and Youth Affairs Minister Deborah Morris (NZ First) opened the specialist service designed for young people.

Mr English said, "young people needed to be able to get the help they needed, when they needed it and in the areas they lived. To deliver this help, health providers and others who dealt with young people needed to work together.

"The one-stop-shop approach will be based on schools, to provide young people with the comprehensive range of services they require," he said.

"Truancy, offending, abuse and untreated health problems did not occur in isolation from other difficulties. I am confident the one-stop-shop model will deliver the kind of integrated service which is needed to deal with youth health problems.

"It is good to see a large organisation like South Auckland Health taking a close look at a need in the community and then working with others to meet that need. It is too easy for large organisations to expect people with problems to come to them. Of course, young people in particular don't always come until it is either too late or unnecessarily serious," Mr English said.