How can it be Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora could enthusiastically announce six months ago it had signed a contract for the refurbishment of this ward, but can no longer give any assurance this is going to happen?
We cannot get a sensible answer to that question.
According to what was said last December, the patients in this 12-bed ward would be shifted temporarily to ward 9a where work to improve that area in readiness for that would have been completed by now.
But last week we learn no decisions have been made over whether to abandon plans to refurbish 10a, a secure unit which provides treatment and rehabilitation services for people over the age of 18 with an intellectual disability who have been convicted of criminal offences, or who demonstrate behaviours assessed as posing a serious risk to themselves or others.
As well as the uncertainty for patients, it will be demoralising for staff working there who have put up with conditions described by former ombudsman Peter Boshier in 2022 as unacceptable, third world, and volatile.
In one interview he also said this inspection had given him the most concern of any facility his office had inspected.
His comments followed an unannounced visit in the previous year under the Crimes of Torture Act.
Staff working there described the facility as a disgrace, something he said he had never encountered before which ‘‘must say something about the level of frustration’’.
He praised their dedication in the face of their difficult circumstances.
We are not surprised they were frustrated. They will have been hanging on for years, hoping improvements were on the way.
An ombudsman’s report in 2014 highlighted the need for improvement, but although this was not disputed by the then Southern District Health Board, the issue appeared to become caught up in the quandary about whether the whole Wakari Hospital should be refurbished or replaced.
In 2019, a report commissioned by the board and leaked to this newspaper showed almost all of the hospital’s mental health facilities were not fit for purpose, posed safety risks to patients and staff, and hindered appropriate treatment of patients.
Ward 10a, despite its lower occupancy rates, had the highest rates of incidents in the DHB and the highest staff injury rate.
Now, patients are to be sent somewhere else and no new admissions are being accepted to the ward.
It is not clear to us why HNZ cannot explain where these patients are going.
Vague talk of ‘‘environments that are better suited to their needs’’ tells us nothing.
Citing patient privacy as a reason for not being more specific is spurious when in December HNZ was not coy about announcing the patients would move to ward 9A during the planned 10A refurbishment.
How much consideration has been given to the impact any upheaval may have on patients and their families is also not obvious.
Telling us HNZ is engaging with staff, patients and their families regarding ‘’ the next steps’’ and providing support throughout the transition process does not suggest anyone had a say in what happens next.
It is past time HNZ, and Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey, were clear about what is being planned for Wakari Hospital.
We trust they remember in the 2020 national stocktake of hospital buildings around the country, which included 24 mental health units, Wakari was one of four in the worst ‘‘very poor’’ category.
Last year we were told the 10a refurbishment would improve conditions for the next five to 10 years while options for all mental health services at Wakari were developed.
But this 10a debacle makes it look as if this process involves shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, or throwing them overboard, and hoping nobody will notice. It lacks coherence and transparency.
Vulnerable patients, their families, staff who care for them, and the community deserve better.
