Mental Health Commission defends suburban facility

The Mental Health Commission yesterday defended a decision to open an acute house for people with mental illness in Whitby, north of Wellington.
A media report quoted residents' concerns over the house, which opened last Tuesday. They were not consulted about the acute facility before it opened.

Two more houses were planned.

Commissioner Mary O'Hagan said the house trend was starting all over the developed world because large acute inpatient units such as Ward 27 at Wellington Hospital struggled to provide a therapeutic environment and good care. The commission applauded the opening of crisis houses in the community as an alternative to hospital-based care, she said.

"People in severe distress need a more intimate homelike setting, with greater personal attention than they can get in a large institutional setting.

"If I lived in Whitby and knew someone with mental illness, I would welcome the opportunity for them to receive care in their own community instead of in a large hospital unit."

The secrecy surrounding the suburban units has angered some residents, who feel they - and three schools and a kindergarten nearby - should have been consulted.

Neighbours Tony Owen and Warwick Taylor told the Sunday Star-Times that it was unacceptable not to be notified of the decision.

Ms O'Hagan said that people with mental illness were no more a threat than the general population.

Research had shown that people with mental illness were more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators.

"If the residents of Whitby are so concerned about their safety because people with mental illness are living in their streets, why aren't they in an absolute panic about the drunk young men, violent husbands, drug dealers and burglars who undoubtedly live in their suburb?

"They are far more of a threat to community safety than people with mental illness."

None of the people in the Whitby home has committed a crime.

"The people at the centre of this story have the same rights as anyone else to enter communities without intrusion on their privacy," she said.

Tony Littlejohns, a clinical leader of general adult mental health services at Wellington Hospital, said it was decided not to alert the public, media or nearby neighbours to the opening. The Capital and Coast District Health Board wanted to avoid "controversy" and "protect patients' privacy".

"We're trying not to bring unnecessary attention to people [patients] under stress already. We've tried to avoid media interest."

- NZPA