Clinic needs ‘urgent action’

Two intellectually disabled women have to share bedroom corridors with ‘‘predatory’’ men at an Auckland psychiatric clinic.

And an Auckland health boss has demanded an urgent response from the Ministry of Health over the situation at the Mason Clinic.

IHC New Zealand labelled the issue a ‘‘crisis’’ and said it put vulnerable women in a cramped and unsafe situation.

Waitemata¯ District Health Board chief executive Dale Bramley wrote to Ministry of Health director-general Ashley Bloomfield on July 6 to raise his concerns.

In the letter, obtained under the Official Information Act, Bramley said the situation at Mason Clinic was ‘‘severe and we request an urgent response’’.

The clinic provides hospital level care for people with intellectual disabilities who have come to the attention of the criminal justice system or present ‘‘extraordinary high and complex needs’’, Bramley said in the letter.

Its Pohutukawa Unit provided 12 beds for intellectually disabled patients.

The unit had not been expected to manage the long-term needs of women since 2008 because of the ‘‘predatory’’ nature of many male residents, Bramley wrote.

He said Wellington’s Capital & Coast DHB provided specialist services to women but, without consultation, these ‘‘expectations’’ had recently changed.

Bramley said two women were admitted to the unit this year and were having to share bedroom corridors with male patients. This had raised ‘‘significant concerns over the inappropriate mixing of genders and the negative consequences this is having on both the females and their male peers’’. Safety was being managed by increased observations but that was draining and diverting resources from rehabilitation, he said.

Bramley said the DHB was seeking assistance from the ministry to facilitate urgent short and longer term planning for this ‘‘small but extraordinarily and underresourced group’’.

IHC New Zealand director of advocacy Trish Grant said women with disabilities were more vulnerable to sexual and other assaults. ‘‘Clearly there are issues around increased vulnerability in custodial settings,’’ Grant said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said it was aware of and was working on issues relating to capacity, capability and complexity at Mason Clinic.

‘‘We take this seriously and acknowledge the work done by district health boards in supporting this very vulnerable and important group of people.’’