Patient’s lock-up about to end
Mental health patient Ashley Peacock is to be released from the psychiatric facility he has lived in since 2010.
IHC New Zealand director of advocacy Trish Grant said she was relieved to learn of the release of Peacock – who has been detained as a compulsory patient under the Mental Health Act because of his mental illness, intellectual disabilities and autism. ‘‘It’s been a long, long advocacy battle to get this resolved,’’ she told Radio NZ.
It seemed ‘‘shocking’’ that such a situation could take place in modern New Zealand, she said.
In 2016, Peacock’s story hit headlines when it was revealed he lived in a 10-square-metre seclusion room at the Tawhirimatea mental health unit in Porirua.
It was costing the public healthcare system almost $2500 a day to keep Peacock behind locked doors, despite human rights concerns and his family’s wish for his release.
Peacock was spending up to 23 hours a day in an isolation wing.
The 40-year-old’s living situation was labelled ‘‘cruel and inhuman’’ in an Ombudsman’s report. Grant said Peacock had been told he was ‘‘transitioning to his own home in the country’’ but because he could not visualise that, it would be a ‘‘slow, careful transition’’.
‘‘The new provider, Community Connections, has recruited specialist staff who know and understand Ashley.
‘‘There will be a careful partnering between mental health and disability support to ensure that together they meet Ashley’s needs ... and that will carry on in an ongoing way so if at any stage Ashley becomes unwell he can receive intense treatment.’’
Peacock would live with three specialist staff at a purpose-built house at a private location in the lower North Island.
An advocacy group campaigned to change Peacock’s conditions, and Grant said that about one year ago clinicians began to believe a new care structure could work. ‘‘It’s been a year of negotiations between the [Capital and Coast District Health Board], the provider and the Ministry of Health.
‘‘That’s positive that there is that level of co-operation possible and bodes well for the changes to the disability support system rolled out at the end of the year.’’
The days where these models of custodial care could go unmonitored and unchecked were gone, she said.