Christchurch's specialist mental health services 'on a knife edge'Iain McGregor Mental health services in Canterbury are seeing about 700 more adults and 300 more children and young people per month than before the Canterbury quakes. READ MORE:* Disgust at mental health care conditions at Christchurch's Princess Margaret Hospital* Kaikoura earthquake mental health package $8m less than requested by DHB* Quake raises health funding stress for Canterbury* Canterbury children languishing for months without mental health treatmentPatients in the intellectually disabled and forensics units could be particularly violent. A CDHB spokesperson said most assaults happened in specialist mental health services. The number of nurses working in specialist mental health services had increased by about 10 per cent since 2012 but the number of doctors and senior doctors remained stable, despite unprecedented growth in demand for specialist mental health services since the February 2011 earthquake. CDHB general manager mental health Toni Gutschlag​ said the specialist mental health teams worked "exceptionally hard... to provide the best care possible in some very challenging circumstances".

Source: Stuff March 05, 2017 06:36 UTC