HQSC Speaking to Health Committee on Mental Health Inquiry

HQSC speaking to Health Committee on mental health Inquiry

On Wednesday 26 July 2017 at 10am the Health Quality and Safety Commission is speaking to the Health Committee about Petition 2014/89 by Corinda Taylor and 1740 others asking for an urgent independent nationwide inquiry into our mental health services.

More and more people are calling for an urgent inquiry into mental health services.

Taylor started the Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust in Dunedin by calling a public meeting in 2014 after her 20-year-old son Ross died by suicide the previous year. The Mental Health Commissioner from HDC recently found the SDHB and psychiatrist in breach of code 4(1) when they failed to provide services of an acceptable standard to her son.

In May 2017 she made a public emotional plea to the Health Committee for this inquiry to happen and prevent further suicides.

Our alarmingly high youth suicide rates have been highlighted recently and this inquiry has become more important than ever. New Zealand has the highest rates of youth suicide in the world.

Taylor has forwarded a few questions to the chair of the Health Committee, Simon O’Connor, including questioning why reporting of suicides under the HDB health care systems is voluntary to HQSC. Accurate record keeping can shed more light on why our suicide rates are so disproportionately high.

She further questions why there are no records of DHB's outpatient suspected suicides that were under a Compulsory Treatment Order at the time of death?

One of her main concerns are the DHB Serious Adverse Event (SAE) reports that exclude mental health and addictions from any public reports on their websites. General health SAE reports are visible and can be found on DHB websites.

“Transparency is important. The public deserves to see the truth and this can be an important start to making changes that can benefit all New Zealanders.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media