NZ's only national residental rehab centre to close

New Zealand's only national residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre is to close next month due to lack of funding.

Hanmer Clinics Ltd announced today that its residential treatment programme at Hanmer Springs would close on November 28 with the loss of 18 jobs.

Chairman John Beattie said the closure would be "a loss to New Zealand" and there was no shortage of demand.

However, the Ministry of Health's decision to fund only outpatient services meant it was no longer possible to keep the residential programme operating.

The move is in accordance with the Mental Health Commission's Mental Health Blueprint.

"We have exhausted all avenues for alternative funding," Mr Beattie said in a statement.

"At the end of the day, we are a charitable organisation and private funding is not consistent enough for us to be confident of continuing to operate residential services."

Instead the organisation would be concentrating its resources in the community to help an increasing number of New Zealanders seeking treatment for dependence on alcohol or other drugs, he said.

Hanmer Clinics operate in Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland, and outpatient services are being expanded with more programmes in existing clinics and through partnerships offering new services in new areas.

Some 78 staff are employed nationwide.

Mr Beattie said the organisation was treating more patients than ever on an outpatient basis, using "substantially the same clinical treatment" that has been used at Hanmer Springs for the last 30 years.

In the first six months of this year, 738 patients used outpatient services -- an increase of 121 per cent compared with patient numbers in the same period last year, Mr Beattie said.

"And this figure does not include family members who take part in our family programme."

Some clinicians employed at the Hanmer Springs clinic had already been transferred to other outpatient clinics, and it was hoped to retain as many as possible, he said.

However, a union representing nurses at the Hanmer clinic called on the Government to reconsider its decision to stop funding and supporting inpatient facilities.

National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) organiser Janice Gemmell, said New Zealanders would be "appalled" that the only national residential rehabilitation facility would be closed.

"Staff have been informed this afternoon about the closure decision," she said in a statement.

"Over the last six years, employees have made sacrifices to keep the hospital going.

"Now they are going to lose their jobs."

The decision to disband inpatient services "flies in the face of almost a hundred years of practical success with Queen Mary residential services for alcoholism and drug addiction", she said.

"The Government stepped in to 'save' Air New Zealand with $882 million.

"This service is another national asset that requires the Government to step in and take over."

- NZPA