Mental health and addiction community sector peak body organisation,
Atamira Platform, are disappointed that mental health and addiction
workers are excluded from the first round of priority funding for pay
parity in the funded health sector, as announced by the government
earlier this week.

Memo Musa, Chief Executive of Platform, says “While we welcome the
funding announcement, we are disappointed that nurses in our sector
have not been prioritised in the first round of funding.”

Musa also wants to see that “providers already paying higher wage rates
for nurses and community health workers, including lived experience and
peer support workers, are not penalised.”

The mental health and addiction workforce make a significant difference
to the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, and their
whānau, every day. This includes supporting the increase in mental health
challenges experienced by people across Aotearoa, post-Covid 19. Many

of the services are also offered within people’s home environments,
saving costs and pressure on public facilities.

Platform Chair and Pathways Chief Executive Officer, Sally Pitts-Brown,
says that this decision could have a significant impact on recruitment and
the ability to maintain critical mental health and addiction services across
Aotearoa.

“It’s a big ask for our workforce to wait another year. We need to value
the work people do, not where they work.”

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