DHB: We need to do something about mental health unit
A new building for Waikato’s sickest mental health patients should be on hospital grounds, Waikato District Health Board has decided.
Community and rural centres are also part of a proposal to overhaul mental health services in the region.
The existing Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre, built on the Waikato Hospital site 20 years ago, is outdated, the board says.
‘‘We have been told on numerous occasions that Henry Bennett is not fit for purpose,’’ interim chief executive Derek Wright said. ‘‘We can’t just sit on Henry Bennett as it is now. We won’t have accreditation.’’ The health board is pitching an alternative to Government, starting with a bid to secure some money and do more detailed planning. The vision is a single-storey, green star rating building on Waikato Hospital grounds, to care for the most unwell patients.
Some staff car parking and existing buildings – such as the Ryburn building – would have to go to make way for it.
A two-stage build is envisaged and the health board has started to work out costs – but they were blacked out in the public version of the indicative business case.
The new building would put function before form, interim executive director for mental health and addictions Vicki Aitken said. Instead of being constrained by what the building allowed – for example, six beds which could only be used for acutely unwell patients – spaces in the new centre could be changed to suit the incoming population.
Clinicians also want smaller units for specialist needs, such as people with severe eating disorders, mums with babies, or younger people, she said.
Refurbishing the existing Henry Bennett Centre wouldn’t do enough, according to a 2015 review cited in the business case, as its ‘‘institutional ambience’’ and layout could restrict how care was delivered.
The health board’s current plan extends beyond the most severely unwell, to rural and community units – locations to be decided. These units could be used by people becoming unwell, or as a step down from the Henry Bennett Centre, before returning to the community.
A change could also be coming for young people, as inpatient services may return from Starship.
The health board will ask Government for a loan to cover the whole project, saying it can’t wait until it has the cash.
‘‘Every day we delay the development of more inpatient (and community) capacity is another day that we ask [patients] to put up with compromised are and staff to endure unacceptable levels of risk that they cannot mitigate on the shop floor,’’ a quote in the business case said.