Press release - [08:00am 17/04/2016] - For Immediate Use
PRESS RELEASE: Stop the Cuts to Southern Mental Health

“Stop the Cuts” Rally to be Held In Octagon Today

Healthcare activist group, Stop the Cuts to Southern Mental Health, will be running a rally in the Octagon today against further cuts to mental healthcare in New Zealand.

This rally comes two weeks after the group chained themselves to the fence outside the Psychiatric Services Building at Dunedin Hospital to peacefully protest the shift of the Community Day Programmes to Wakari Hospital.

Spokesperson Scout Barbour-Evans says “Cuts to mental health across New Zealand have impacted heavily on families, and have resulted in losses of life.”

“As soon as healthcare funding cuts are announced, we get anxious, because mental healthcare is thrown under the bus every single cut. We’ve had enough.”

“The Ministry of Health is cutting hospital services without properly ensuring that there are community services across New Zealand to take the slack. There are too many people needing hospital beds because they’ve gone without help in the community, and their health concerns have been exacerbated.”

Scout Barbour-Evans began Stop the Cuts to Southern Mental Health in 2015, after experiencing the devastating effects of a lack of funding on a personal level.

“I regularly share my story on our Facebook page, at community meetings and at rallies in the hope that I can use my experiences to show other people that something has to change, or we will lose more lives.”

“Today I will not only be sharing my stories, but those of people I know who haven’t been able to make it. Jonathon Coleman is off laughing about how the Compass food is New Zealand’s biggest healthcare issue, but we have members of our community dying without absolute basic support.”

Barbour-Evans invites anyone else with a story to come on down and join the rally. “Gone are the days where we don’t get a voice because we’re unwell. Let’s take our voices back.”
The rally will begin at 12pm, on Sunday 17th of April, at the Octagon.

ENDS

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