Suicide rates no surprise to families 

Source: ONE News

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Families who have lost loved ones to suicide say they are not surprised by new figures that show a much higher suicide rate among mental health patients being cared for in the community.

The families claim it's because outpatients do not get enough support, a view that puts them at loggerheads with mental health professionals.

Shane Fisher was a mental health outpatient when he took his own life. His mother, Sally Fisher, says despite promises, little has changed in the service that failed her eldest son in 2006.

"When my son died there were promises of risk assessment forms, better monitoring. But deaths have continued," says Fisher.

According to the latest figures, up to 95,000 people accessed mental health services through New Zealand's 21 district health boards in 2007.

There were 85 reported suicides, the vast majority of those being outpatients under community care.

Fisher says in the case of community based mental health services there is little monitoring.

"There is monitoring by telephone which indeed does little to tell you the state of mind of a person who's mentally unwell," she says.

She says what's missing are enough half-way points between acute hospital care and sending an unwell person home.

"Mental health is the Cinderalla of health and it is the second most diagnosed condition in New Zealand. It's very sad isn't it."

The government has ruled out a review into the way DHBs deliver mental health services, saying it's focussed instead on better access to both acute and community based services.

Frontline experts say they are already doing their best.

"What you'd like to have is access 24 hours, seven days a week and that's what we're trying to provide," says Dr Charles Hornabrook of the Ministry of Health.

But that will not stop Sally Fisher pushing for an inquiry in a bid to spare other parents her pain.