Posts by Sacha
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There are still serious problems with the funding and management of mental health services. Today's Herald reports on a couple of failures in Auckand.
The new minister in charge of mental health, Associate Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman, said reviews were unnecessary when some of the system's worst problems were obvious and it was up to experts in the field to find solutions.
He was concerned about high occupancy rates at some residential units - Te Whetu Tawera, for example, had operated well above the ideal occupancy rate of 85 per cent for almost a year - and there were questions about whether patients transferred to community care were getting appropriate treatment.
Coleman intended ordering a review of spending on non-governmental contractors who provided community mental health care.
He did not believe boards had "a huge handle on what they were getting for that money".
Staff retention was an issue across the entire health sector but had become "increasingly" difficult with the mental health workforce.
He had also asked for a briefing about why cash paid to boards exclusively for mental health care was not always being fully used.
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Kerry, Lhaws was Giovanni's idea I think.
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Well there's a minute I'll never get back.
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You're kidding yourself if you think Dunne-Powell hasn't been extensively leaking to the media
I admit that I have no evidence other than my assessment of her character in the interviews I have seen, incuding her denial of that accusation. She didn't seem as stage managed, but that may just mean she's better at it than Veitch is.
Mind you, wouldn't you expect either the hungry media or his advisors to have provided evidence of any leaking by Dunne-Powell? I have to agree with Russell that their reputation must have suffered through this fiasco. Defamation proceedings wouldn't help much with that. Beyond resuscitation.
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Regardless of concerns about "Team" Veitch's behaviour, the man clearly needs help and I hope he and his enablers just shut up now and let him focus on getting well.
Documents presented to the Auckland District Court when Veitch appeared on Thursday gave a stark picture of his fragile mental state.
A letter from psychologist Traude Leibbrand, written a few days before the hearing, said that Veitch had undergone 17 one-hour sessions since September last year after being referred for help by the local mental health crisis team.
"Tony continues to struggle with feelings of shame, guilt and grief relating to the incident of assault of his previous partner and the resulting legal proceedings," read Leibbrand's report.
"During the entire time of my involvement with Tony a close co-operation with the crisis team has been necessary as Tony's safety has been (and continues to be) compromised. He has been diagnosed with and continues to show symptoms of clinical depression and anxiety."
Another letter from psychiatrist Dr Trish van Kralingen, who works for Auckland District Health Board, said Veitch had "a diagnosis of a major depressive episode which has resulted in him experiencing low mood, poor sleep, impaired concentration, lowered energy, loss of enjoyment of life, anxiety, suicidal ideation (thoughts) and at times suicidal behaviour".
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Cue the 'Sorcerors Apprentice' scene from Fantasia
Gold. The entitled whining about being hoist by their own expensive petard is sickening.
The world is indeed a strange place when Michael Lhaws makes some sense:
I wrote a little less than a year ago that I empathised with Veitch because my resignation from parliament 13 years ago had similar trappings of over-reaching ego and rampant denial. But I also noted that his "mea culpa" of the time was crafted and insincere a ruse to shift responsibility.
I'm not convinced that anything has changed, particularly given his post-sentencing performance on the steps of the Auckland District Court. This was an act of anger, not some concession of contrition.
Certainly more self-aware than celeb shrink Sara Chatwin, who the SST used to add some respectability to their trawl through the latest smears from Veitch's cronies.
Chatwin said it was human nature for someone to justify or quash public allegations. "Maybe one of them should put their hand up and say `I don't want to comment. Take your swipe but I'm not going to be responding'. To-ing and fro-ing is not good."
Uh, one of them has been keeping quiet throughout, you silly woman.
By contrast, the other SST story about the courting of the press shows the professional reflective journalism that has largely been absent:
It feels uncomfortable being told by someone who has just been convicted of kicking a woman in the back that nudge, nudge, wink, wink we've got heaps more on her and if it had gone to trial, she would have been "incredibly adversely affected".
...Veitch lets slip: "If it wasn't for Glenda, we wouldn't have been able to control the media."
...Veitch says several times throughout the interview that it is unacceptable to hit women and that what he did was wrong, but it is always accompanied by a spiel about how he has suffered.
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Good point, Danyl. Seems it's not just the media wing of his expensive servants whose behavior has attracted attention. DomPost reports 'Team Veitch tried to intimidate me'.
Auckland journalist Stephen d'Antal, who had spoken to Ms Dunne-Powell about the case before she complained to police, was served with a court summons by Veitch's defence team.
He believed Team Veitch was running a campaign to intimidate Ms Dunne-Powell and her supporters.
A private investigator had knocked on his door at 9.30 one night to deliver a court summons and he believed another court witness was visited even later at night.
"It just seemed very deliberate to me," he said.
"I think it was trying to unnerve and unsettle the prosecution and Ms Dunne-Powell to try and get her to back down."
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Kristin Dunne-Powell explains in some detail her side of the story, including about media coverage, timing of telling the police and even the nature of her relationship with Veitch.
Worth a read - like the Campbell interview she comes across as self-aware and balanced despite what she has been through.
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apparently to his benefit
Can't argue with that - and "who benefits?" is a very useful question in most situations.
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prosecute this matter via PR and media
But wait, there's more:
Mr Grieve said Veitch was "stitched up" over several issues, including publicity of the agreement for him to pay Ms Dunne-Powell money to compensate her for loss of income, medical and other costs.
"I have got information established to my satisfaction that she was in contact with news media beforehand. That was one of the reasons the confidentiality aspects of the deed of settlement were sought and granted.
"I don't think it was any accident this thing was leaked. Where that leak came from I do not know. I am not suggesting necessarily it came from the complainant at all but as I understand it, the decision to publish it by the Dominion Post (the Wellington newspaper which broke the story) was made by senior executive level, not by journalists," he said.
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