Mental health centre closing
Graeme Greenaway is deeply concerned at the decision to close Painga House, which provides community-based crisis and planned respite care for mental health and addictions clients.
‘‘I really want the place saved because there’s people like me need it,’’ said the 55-year-old, who has schizoaffective disorder, during an interview last week at the home in Garnett Ave, central Hamilton.
‘‘It helps me stay stable and reduces the number of times I go to hospital.’’
Greenaway, who normally lives in Hamilton East, is worried closure of the place he’s used for two years meant ‘‘lives will be at risk because this service does work’’.
Painga staff had picked up signs that led to a diabetes diagnosis and intensive care – if this hadn’t happened ‘‘I could’ve died’’.
But Painga House says it’s closing next month after new Te Whatu Ora Waikato contract conditions made it financially ‘‘unsustainable’’.
Operations manager Donna Greening (Ngā ti Porou-Ngā ti Kahungunu) and her sister, services manager Susan Pahuru, said they were very disappointed to close the facility, established in 2001 and taking up to six clients a night.
They said Te Whatu Ora’s offer – including an unchanged contract rate and a new cash clawback for unused capacity – meant they couldn’t carry on. Nine jobs will go, although they may look at other facility uses.
‘‘We’re resigned to finishing,’’ said Greening.
However, she was keen to highlight the organisation’s plight at a time of what she said was high need and bed shortages.
Hospitals such as the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre weren’t always good for those in need.
‘‘Our whole goal is to keep people out of hospitals because hospital makes people worse,’’ she claimed, basing that on her gut instinct.
Also, Pahuru said Painga was ‘‘a non-clinical, more homely,
‘‘I really want the place saved because there’s people like me need it. ’’ Graeme Greenaway
whā nau-friendly, culturally sensitive environment’’.
Greenaway – who uses Painga for planned respite care several nights a month – didn’t want to have to go Henry Bennett because ‘‘it’s not a nice place to be’’. He said he had been assaulted there. Support from Painga has helped him avoid hospital for two years.
Painga takes in up to four Te Whatu Ora-funded clients a night and two from Mental Health NZ under its current contract.
Greening wouldn’t disclose nightly rates and the annual contract value, but estimated it cost about three times as much for someone to be in the hospital system.
She said fewer people were being referred to Painga House, and that local Crisis Assessment and Home Treatment services suggested that people were presenting with problems worse than what Painga could deal with.
Pahuru said they had been told ‘‘the landscape has changed’’ and ‘‘they’re saying people are presenting more acutely than in previous years’’.
But Greening felt there were not enough specifics and that Painga House had provided good services previously. ‘‘How come it suddenly doesn’t work this year?’’
She, too, was worried more people might end up in mental health crisis through withdrawal of Painga’s planned respite care.
Te Whatu Ora said there had
been ‘‘a sustained reduction in the number of service users referred to Painga House’’.
That was because many cases were high needs or complex and it was not ‘‘clinically appropriate’’ to send them to Painga House, the executive director strategy, investment and transformation for Waikato, Lisa Gestro, said.
She said Te Whatu Ora had worked with Painga House to explore possible ways to keep them going, but Painga House had said they didn’t intend to renew the funding agreement.
As Te Whatu Ora funded other mental health respite providers, it intended to reinvest the money to provide beds at the level of care that was needed, Gestro said.
She said Te Whatu Ora would help Painga House users move to other care before June 30.