Nurses welcome moves to close the gaps in mental health care

NZNO welcome the terms of reference of the Inquiry into Mental Health and the opportunity to bring the voice of nurses into the inquiry. Chief Executive Memo Musa says NZNO is pleased to see the Inquiry will be completed by October.
 “The initiative to have more nurses in schools and extending free doctor’s visits for youth will help stop the flow of childhood mental health stress moving onward to become major mental health issues,” he said.
“Nurses have a role to play in mental health as they are working with people, whānau and communities every day. The focus on the elderly, children and youth is most welcome in the scope of the Inquiry.
“Currently the mental health workforce is not well coordinated and we hope that the inquiry will widen early on to include this issue as it is important that the workforce are is  resourced well to have the diverse skill and capacity to respond
“There is no health without mental health, mental health is too important to be left to health professionals alone and needs to be joined up with community and government services,“ Memo Musa said.