Mental health provider Pact has been awarded a contract to
house mental health patients, after Southern District Health
Board quit Hulme House, in High St, a year ago because it was
not earthquake-safe.
The board announced yesterday Pact would provide
accommodation for the service, which has been cut from 15
beds to 10. The board would continue to provide the clinical
component of the 24-hour staffed service.
No jobs were lost in the change.
Pact southern mental health operations manager Thomas Cardy
said Pact had acquired two adjacent houses in Northeast
Valley, to which residents would move on Friday.
A governance group from Pact and the health board would meet
weekly to guide the joint service.
''This really is innovative territory having a DHB and NGO
collaborating like this,'' Mr Cardy said.
Submissions sought from the mental health sector last year
revealed concern about whether the proposed service was
workable, given the differences between the DHB and NGO
sectors.
Last January, residents were evacuated from Hulme House. They
have been housed at Ashburn Clinic in the interim.eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz
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