New Mental Health Line for Counties Manukau

21 February 2008

New Mental Health Line for Counties Manukau

Counties Manukau DHB is about to reap the benefits of a new mental health line which went live February 18.

Mental Health Line is a telephone based triage function operated by McKesson NZ Limited which directs or connects clients to the appropriate service based on need and urgency.

Staffed by skilled and experienced mental health professionals, this service will operate during the ‘after hours’ period (5.00pm – 8.00am weekdays, plus 24/7 weekends and public holidays) and will ensure that clients, their families, other agencies and the community have enhanced access to mental health services during this period.

The Mental Health Line program for the CMDHB is an extension of the existing Mental Health Line service provided for the Capital and Coast, Hutt Valley, Waikato and Wairarapa District Health Boards and is designed to:

Provide information to clients about mental health and mental health services;
Improve information flows within and between services;
Simplify the number of consumer entry points into services;
Improve coordination of access to services;
Better match services to needs;
Assess the impact of a telephone based access and information service on the delivery of mental health services in the district.

Lesley Clarke, General Manager McKesson New Zealand states “Mental Health Line is about assisting with after hours and continuity of care and we are delighted to be able to offer this service to support the important role of the Counties Manukau community mental health and specialist teams.”

Mental Health Line will see considerable improvements and enhancements to our current service and we look forward to bringing this new initiative to the Counties Manukau region" says Suzanne Kerruish, Acting Services Manager, Core Adult Mental Health, CMDHB.

At 5pm on Monday 18 February 2008 the service commenced.  Mental Health clients can assess this new service by simply calling their current Community Mental Health Centre or Specialist Service.  From here they will have the capacity to connect to Mental Health Line.

 
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