Health plan called 'waffle'

The nation's mental health was not improving despite millions more in Government funding, National's associate health spokesman, Jonathan Coleman, claimed yesterday.

Dr Coleman labelled a 10-year action plan announced this week as "waffle" and said suicide statistics were alarming.

The suicide rate might be down but the number of hospital admissions after attempted suicides - a good indicator of mental health - was up.

During question time in Parliament he asked: "Why is that when the Government has increased spending on specialist mental health services by nearly $1 billion per year, the number of hospitalisations for attempted suicide has soared by nearly 20 per cent between 1999 and 2003.

"Even worse, the rate for young women aged 15 to 24 has increased by 45 per cent."