11. Mental Health Services Canterbury—Funding and StaffingDr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North) to the Minister of HealthMental Health Services Canterbury—Funding and Staffing11. Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North) to the Minister of Health: Does he think that the levels of staffing are acceptable in mental health services at Canterbury District Health Board when staff are saying they are fearful for their own safety and are feeling anxious all the time?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): I would just like to start by congratulating the learned Doctor on his elevation to the health portfolio and note his instant impact in getting health moved from question No. 1 to question No. 11 on a Thursday. As regards the question itself although this is an operational matter for the district health board any assaults on staff are unacceptable. As the general manager for mental health for the Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) has said regarding staffing levels We are confident that our levels are sufficient to keep the services functional and safe. It doesn't mean incidents don't happen." As the acting chair of the district health board told the Health Committee yesterday staff assaults in the district health board have dropped from 2000 to 700 per year. The final thing that I would say is that the Government has increased mental health spending in Canterbury by 25 percent over the last 8 years including a $20 million package last year. Last week I was down in Christchurch with Mayor Lianne Dalziel launching a $6 million fund for community resilience. Mental health is a difficult area and of course there is always more to do.Dr David Clark: Is the Minister comfortable with money being taken from older people's healthcare to prop up mental health services in Canterbury?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: It has not been.Dr David Clark: I seek leave to table a letter showing that the Canterbury District Health Board is being forced to reallocate funding to cover mental health—Mr SPEAKER: I just need—whose letter is it?Dr David Clark: It is a letter sent from the Canterbury District Health Board in response to an Official Information Act (OIA) inquiry dated 24 June 2016.Mr SPEAKER: On that basis I will put the leave and the House will decide. Leave is sought to table that particular letter gained under the OIA. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is none; it can be tabled. Supplementary—[Interruption] Order! I know the member has moved one seat further away but she is still very loud with some of her interjections. I would be grateful if she would cooperate.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Dr David Clark: Is the Minister aware of well-documented research on natural disasters and longer-term patterns of mental health needs of affected populations and the growing need for mental health support over time; if so why is the Canterbury DHB still funded below the national average per head for mental health services?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Yes I am aware of that research and it shows that it actually takes about 5 to 10 years for these effects to wash through the system in a population so we are about in the middle of that now. That is why mental health expenditure has been increased by 20 percent over the term of this Government including an extra $20 million package that was announced last February and most recently that $6 million package announced in conjunction with the council.Dr David Clark: Does he think it is acceptable that patients in Canterbury are being treated in a building that is being "shored up with big planks" and that has "visible cracks in the wall"; if not why did the Government not approve the move of regional mental health services from the now crumbling Princess Margaret Hospital when the Canterbury DHB asked for it in 2012?Mr SPEAKER: Order! There are two supplementary questions there.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: What the member has got to remember is that there is $1 billion being invested in the rebuild of health services across Canterbury. We have had Burwood Hospital we are working on the main health campus and there has been a wide range of primary care facilities worked on. There is also a business case being worked on for mental health services so the member will just have to be patient. But I think he should look on the bright side: $1 billion is a huge rebuild—the biggest health rebuild in the history of New Zealand.Dr David Clark: Does he think the DHB being forced to spend an additional $2.5 million on supporting clinical staff at Princess Margaret Hospital is ideal given the wear and tear on staff clinical isolation of the facilities and demoralising conditions—or is it simply the inevitable price of his independently verified $1.7 billion cut to the health sector and his decision-making delays?Mr SPEAKER: Again there are two supplementary questions.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: The member has to make up his mind as to whether he thinks that the Government is spending too much or too little. Now he seems to be complaining. Having started off saying that we are spending too little he is now complaining about an extra $2.5 million. He would be really angry if he fully understood that actually we are spending an extra $106 million on top of the population-based funding formula in Canterbury since the Christchurch earthquakes. The member needs to get his facts straight and stop making the figures up."