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
