Posts by Neil
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Twyford:
There will be a special KiwiBuild visa that will allow people in the construction to fast-track temporary work visas. We will reduce migrants coming in but nothing will be allowed to constrain the construction industry to get workers.
The need to resssure that not too many foreigners will be getting in is morally bankrupt.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to simon g,
...we’re all supposed to get terribly excited every time media overseas actually mention New Zealand, but are we so desperate for attention that we simply recycle their ignorance?
A bit unfair to Ardern. The NZ equivalent of Trump isn’t the PM, he’s the Deputy PM.
Oddly, the last time Labour supported NZ troops in Afghanistan Peters was Minister of Foreign Affairs and there was a Republican president. This time round NZF also have the Defense portfolio.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to ,
There’s this thing with a buzz word “consumer engagement”.
Labour will have to prioritise. There is urgent need right now for resources to maintain the safety of the most vulnerable and at risk. An increased number of respite beds is one such resource and could be done today. Consumers have a much more limited ability to engage when they’re just trying to survive.
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Some things Labour could do in a short amount of time:
- fund junior doctors in community mental heath centres. They can take significant workload off senior doctors and it provides a path into mental health – it’s hard to attract doctors into the field,
- buy more motels. There’s a desperate need for short term emergency accommodation which can’t wait for some 10 year housing plan. Motels provide accomodation and also allow for a concentration of resources as health professionals can visit more people in less time. This can easily be done now and would have immediate benefit for not a great deal of money.
- offer incentives for nurses to move into mental health. Currently student nurses spend a very small amount of time in mental health placements and often that brief experience doesn’t inspire interest in the field.
- fund Community Suppport Workers in community mental health centres. They do a great job based in NGOs but they could also help with health professional workloads if based in the community centres.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to ,
What I know about mental health services (which isn’t a hell of a lot), is that they are fragmented.
I'm not sure it's fragmented. Mental health covers a very wide range of situations requiring a wide range of varied responses.
From high security forensic units through to a few hours with a counsellor.
There's always going to be organisations that have specialist areas and that will call for co-ordination.
Current needs aren't some mystery to be explored through investigations.
I think Labour would be better off just talking to staff at community mental health centres and inpatient units.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to Prudence,
I think the proposed inquiry into historical abuse in state institutions is seperate.
The current mental health services provide effective mental health treatment they just need to be able to provide more of it.
And the biggest obstacle to that is getting the staff and having appropriate housing so that acute units don’t fill up with people who have become well but don’t have anywhere to live.
Labour’s proposal of placing mental health teams in GP practices sounds good but it’s predicated on finding quite a large number of extra health professionals when current staffing needs can’t even be met.
It’s also likely to double up on roles as there are already care co-ordinators.
It would make much more sense to simply provide more funding for existing services.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to 81stcolumn,
It's such a large area. Stretching from the sort of thing you're referring to all the way to the continuing problems of deinstitutionalisation from decades ago. There's quite a number of now elderly chronic mentally unwell people who would have been better off in institutional care and need community support that is not there.
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The biggest restraint Labour will face is not a lack of knowing what mental health services to offer but how to deal with a world wide shortage of mental health professionals.
It’s a well known problem. One can promise more mental heath services but getting the right people to implement that is going to be the hard part.
Even under current funding there are a large number of unfilled positions.
They need a plan for that not an inquiry.
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I’m not sure why Labour want to spend money on an inquiry into mental health. The money would be better off spent on the obvious needs – more staff and more housing suitable for the various needs of people with mental health issues.
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The water tax has gone.
Still cuts in immigration planned.
Pragmatism: +1, idealism: -1.
Seems odd, why punish people who want to come here but not multinationals taking advantage of free water.