Their comments come in the wake of Chief Ombudsman John Allen releasing his provisional opinion on Wakari Hospital’s Ward 10a last week, which said his investigators had uncovered ‘‘some of the worst’’ behaviour by staff and patients he had seen in such a facility.
Health New Zealand (HNZ) began the process of closing it last week.
The former staff member, who declined to be named, said they had never worked in any hospital situation that matched Ward 10a.
The 12-bed, medium-secure, locked inpatient unit provides support and treatment to people with an intellectual disability and/or mental illness who are displaying challenging behaviour which cannot be safely managed in the community.
‘‘I’ve worked in different mental health places around the country, but nothing was like 10a,’’ the informant said.
‘‘There was a combination of a really bad building and layout with not much light, very damp - and just poky: hard to see around corners and plan for what’s coming.’’
Not only was the layout unfit for purpose, the type of staff there made it harder, the former staff member said.
‘‘Honestly, the hardest thing was the staff.
‘‘They were a mixed bunch of people that wouldn’t get jobs anywhere else.
‘‘Some of them had worked at Cherry Farm [former psychiatric hospital north of Dunedin], and they still had the kind of attitude that they had back then at Cherry Farm. So they would be rough with patients.’’
The former staff member said the examples listed in the ombudsman’s provisional opinion, which included secluding a patient for more than 18 months and refusing others access to the toilet, did not surprise him.
‘‘I saw patients being pulled to the ground if they weren’t happy with them — dragged along the floor, dragged by their hair.
‘‘There were patients that were just put in seclusion every day because they had no other way to manage them, so they would work them up to get them to qualify to go into seclusion and then just lock them away in seclusion. The bullying was kind of full-on.’’
Mr Allen’s statement said his investigators ‘‘found compelling evidence of punitive and coercive treatment of people in the ward’’ and some patients ‘‘were subjected to prolonged environmental restraint and/or long-term seclusion’’.
The former staff member agreed with Mr Allen’s provisional statement.
‘‘I think the ward needs to be shut down.
‘‘From what I understand, there’s only a couple of people there anyway, so I think it’s a complete waste of time having all these staff there for like two patients.
‘‘They’re not taking on any admissions. The building’s really dodgy. There’s a whole lot of community providers that these people could be looked after with now that have come up sort of in the past few years.’’
The informant contrasted the conditions with the nearby ‘‘markedly better’’ Ward 9c - an unlocked ward for general mental health.
‘‘But the staff there were a lot nicer. There was more oversight. People would make sure that you’re doing the right thing. The patients could speak up for themselves.’’
Mr Allen said he wanted HNZ to conduct a full review of Wakari Ward 10a, and a wider look at Wakari Hospital in general.
While he could not set the timeframe or the terms of reference, he said he would be ‘‘actively engaged in monitoring progress and outcomes’’.
On Friday, HNZ director of mental health and addictions Phil Grady welcomed the independent investigation by the Ministry of Health into Ward 10a.
A wider review of forensic intellectual disability services nationally would also be undertaken in partnership with the services’ funder, the Ministry of Social Development, he said.
‘‘Health NZ takes these concerns extremely seriously.’’
