Mental health seclusion rates on rise

More than 800 mental health patients were held in seclusion at some point last year, despite a Government policy to phase out the practice, according to a new report.

The Director of Mental Health John Crawshaw released his office’s Annual Report for 2016 yesterday, revealing rates of seclusion rose 6 per cent last year.

The number of people held in seclusion has been declining overall since 2009, when a policy was introduced to reduce the practice.

But in 2016, of the 7411 people who spent a night under the care of mental health services, 802 were placed alone in a room from which they could not freely leave at some point.

The report stated seclusion should be uncommon and used to reduce the use of restraint and ‘‘to encourage the use of least restrictive practices’’.

The increase has come despite the ministry’s efforts to eradicate the controversial practice.

Earlier this year, a United Nationsfunded report, ordered by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, said rates of seclusion were too high, and that some frontline staff had not embraced the ‘‘necessary change of mindset’’.

Crawshaw reiterated in the report that seclusion should only be used in cases where imminent risk of danger existed, and no safe and effective alternative was possible.

‘‘Most services in New Zealand that use seclusion are now entering a replanning phase, in which they are refining and refocusing seclusion reduction initiatives,’’ a statement from the Ministry of Health explained.

The report reveals 10 Kiwis were given electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) while under the care of mental health last year, despite consciously refusing consent.

More than a third of all patients who were given ECT last year were given it without their consent, as it was believed they did not have the capacity to consent. Waikato District Health Board dished out the most treatments, 472 for 38 patients.

Canterbury was the next highest user of ECT, with 29 patients each given a share of 278 treatments.

The total number of ECT treatments administered without consent jumped from 576 in 2015 to 954 in 2016, which may be due to efforts by the Office of the Director of Mental Health to improve reporting on non-consensual ECT, the report said.

Health Minister David Clark told Parliament yesterday that the Government was taking several steps to improve mental health services across the country, and work on a broad inquiry into the service was under way.

Clark said the Government was also progressing work on its election promise to include a nurse in every secondary school.