Hopes high for mental health ward

Designs for Palmerston North Hospital’s ward 21 replacement are being prepared to stake a $30 million claim on the Government’s $200m Budget fund for new mental health facilities.

The Midcentral District Health Board has completed an assessment justifying the need for a new building, the first chapter of the work.

Mental Health and Addictions clinical executive Vanessa Caldwell said the next steps were design and costings, which would be submitted to the Government’s capital investment committee in October.

The board had appointed Annabel Fraser, from Jacobs Health Design, to develop the plans, incorporating feedback from staff, consumers and community-based mental health services.

Caldwell said the current building was outdated, too small, affecting the quality of care, and needed urgent attention.

Users described it as unfriendly, cold, sterile, institutional and not welcoming.

She said the goal was to have a new unit on the Heretaunga St side of the hospital campus, which would accommodate up to 28 acutely unwell patients, up from the current 24.

The extra beds would provide for increased demand, but even so, would need to be supported by improved options for ‘‘step-down’’ community facilities, to ensure only the most acutely unwell patients had to be cared for at the hospital.

Caldwell said the feedback was clear, that what was needed was a new building, rather than a retrofit.

The current building was only just over a decade old, but had been dismissed as not fit for purpose.

Its shortcomings were highlighted during and after the investigation into the deaths of two patients in 2014.

Caldwell, who was not in the top job at the time, said the existing ward had been designed to fit conventional ideas about mental health care at the time.

‘‘The philosophy was toward mental health being treated like any other condition, similar to any other hospital ward providing physical treatment.

‘‘Now, we understand that when people are in mental health distress, what you want is not a hospital, but something much more homelike and much more conducive to getting well faster.’’

One of the challenges for the design would be to balance the need for better visibility, so staff could more easily monitor what patients were doing, with a plea for more privacy for patients and their visitors.

Board member Barbara Robson said no matter what improvements were made to models of care, ‘‘bricks and mortar’’ mattered.

‘‘It’s really important it’s fit for purpose, therapeutic for those vulnerable services users, their family and wha¯ nau, and our staff.’’

Owen and Carey Hume have been lobbying for improvements since their daughter Erica’s 2014 death as an in-patient.

They said it was imperative the board moved quickly to secure money for the building.

They were strong advocates of building services in the community so people were not admitted to the ward unless it was essential.

But the new unit still needed to be bigger, as having insufficient beds available meant people were put at risk by being discharged too soon.

‘‘It’s really important it’s fit for purpose, therapeutic for those vulnerable services users, their family and wha¯nau, and our staff.’’