6. Mental Health Services Canterbury—Kaikōura Earthquake AftermathHon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of HealthMental Health Services Canterbury—Kaikōura Earthquake Aftermath6. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement that following the Valentine's Day earthquake this year in Canterbury it was timely to review whether any additional mental health and wellbeing support was needed"; if so will he consider reviewing whether any additional support is needed for Canterbury and Nelson-Marlborough district health boards as a result of the recent earthquakes?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): Yes; and yes. Officials have been in constant contact with the district health boards (DHBs) since Monday's earthquake and the Government will be doing everything that is required to ensure that people have access to the services they need. As with earlier earthquakes we are always monitoring the levels of resourcing required. Services come first for the people of Kaikōura great support is being provided and we will continue to follow matters closely.Hon Annette King: Can he provide reassurance that the Canterbury District Health Board will be able to provide additional mental health services to the people affected by the recent earthquake in light of its projected $37 million end-of-year deficit mainly due to previous earthquake-related costs?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Yes it will and do not forget that the Government covers that deficit and has each year. Since the earthquakes there has been a total of $106 million extra support provided to the Canterbury DHB to cover the impact of those earthquakes. Specifically with regard to mental health the spend there has gone up from $123 million 8 years ago to $155 million in the past year. That has been an increase of 25 percent.Hon Annette King: If Healthline is answering at their peak 150 percent more calls than usual as he said yesterday will he consider securing additional resources for it to cover the additional costs of staff etc. and not only it but the two Healthlines that are responding to people affected by the earthquake?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Thank you for that question. There have been extra resources put in place. An extra two mental health workers and 20 hours of nursing time have been provided. The calls peaked on day one at 150 percent of normal volume but the advice is that they have tapered off in the meantime.Hon Annette King: What travel and accommodation assistance if any will be made available to people from the Kaikōura region who are required to travel to Christchurch for mental health services arising from the recent earthquake?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: We have not got details on that at this point but people have not so far travelled to Christchurch specifically for that purpose but officials are keeping us updated on the resources that are needed along the way.Hon Annette King: Is there the potential for burn-out of mental health and addiction staff at the Canterbury District Health Board given the number of vacancies amongst senior medical officers and the crisis resolution team?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Obviously they are working in an area of the health service that comes with quite a burden in terms of stress on workers and it is something that the Canterbury District Health Board will have to look out for and take appropriate action on as a good employer to make sure that those risks are mitigated."