It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet other members of the Cambridge community. For those of you who won’t know me, I am Louise Upston, the Member of Parliament for Taupo. I was elected in 2008 and have well and truly found my feet in the political world. I live here in Cambridge with my husband Craig and three children. It is an absolute pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the launch of the ‘Cambridge Connections’ Health and Social Services community Directory.
Healthcare has always been important here in Cambridge. A few months ago I attended the opening of the new and improved Cambridge Medical centre and it is great to carry on that support for health tonight.
I would like to extend a big thank you and congratulations to Hannah Cleland. I am always delighted to see members of the community getting involved with issues that interest them and I think I speak for everyone here in saying you have done the Cambridge community a wonderful service in producing this directory. Hannah has developed the ‘Cambridge Connections’ directory after research towards her Clinical Psychology degree showed a lack in easily available mental health services information for health service providers.
Mental Health services throughout NZ are continuing to improve. Having a directory that opens communication and improves networking between support providers and the community will mean faster and more efficient care for those who need it. As an MP, it is important that my staff and I have access to information that can help constituents and we will be able to use this directory efficiently.
I want to quickly outline the importance of mental healthcare for the Government also. Health Minister Tony Ryall announced that funding to mental health services will increase by $40 Million over the next four years. In addition, it is expected that DHBs will allocate $174 million to mental health services from the extra funding they received from Budget 2010 released last week.
Local Cambridge organisations have also really got behind Hannah and the directory by offering moral and financial support to get the project to the printers and into the community, and that is something we can all be proud of.
The work that your organisations do here in Cambridge does not go unnoticed and I thank you for your hard work.
Congratulations again Hannah, your dedication to this project is much appreciated. I wish you all the best with your final years of study. |