Murder and suicides blamed on flaws in health service

A murder and three suicides have been blamed on "third-world" mental health services in Hawkes Bay.

A report to the Hawkes Bay District Health Board reveals inadequacies in the region's mental health services between 2001 and last year.

Among the most serious shortcomings were a lack of care that led to the deaths of four people.

As well, 83 per cent of people admitted to the psychiatric unit at the Hawkes Bay Regional Hospital in Hastings during those years did not need to be there, the report said.

Those patients had been given unnecessary, "intensive, intrusive and expensive" treatment.

The report was produced by an agency for the health board that examined its mental health and addiction services.

It found them lacking in almost every major area of health care, from a shortage of psychiatrists to an in-patient unit which needed "immediate replacement".

It said the mental health service was designed almost exclusively for the most seriously unwell.

The result was that less than 2 per cent of the people in Hawkes Bay received the treatment they needed.

An unnamed staff member quoted in the report said: "The people who need to be in hospital can't get in, and the people who don't need to be in can't get out."

The board's chief executive, Chris Clarke, said the report was a reflection of what had happened in the past.

At the beginning of this month, 75 per cent of the report's quality improvement recommendations had been achieved, "and the service is well on the way to being the best it can be".

He said the report was now "largely out of date".

The report made 10 main findings detailing a failure caused by planning, and funding focused on bed numbers and staffing levels rather than the needs of Hawkes Bay's mentally unwell people.

The department was measured against 20 national and international standards for the provision of mental health services.

It met none of them.

Inadequate clinical patient records were kept and an inability to recruit or retain psychiatrists led to a "critical lack of clinical leadership", the report said.

Mental health services were designed for the most seriously unwell - an approach that, if applied to diabetics, would mean they received help only when they went blind or had a limb amputated.

Mr Clarke said he acknowledged the service had not been in a good shape a couple of years ago, but consistent effort in recent years had paid dividends.

Herald Feature: Health

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- NZPA