Staff reluctant to report offences by mental health patients

A damning internal report on Hawkes Bay District Health Board's mental health and addiction services says that if a patient committed a crime while officially or unofficially on leave from the ward, staff were reluctant to contact police.

"They have been essentially forgiven the offence and ignored, thus being free to commit an offence again," the report says.

If patients assaulted staff and/or brought illegal substances into the ward, "apparently little or nothing was done".

A health board spokeswoman said patients suspected of breaking hospital rules would be dealt with individually.

If staff concluded that a patient flagrantly breached rules, police would be called, she said. Police would also be called if visitors tried to supply illegal substances to patients.

The board's chief executive, Chris Clarke, said systems and policies had been changed since the period the report applied to, improving staff and patient safety.

The report was a "warts-and-all" assessment (of mental health services) and was largely out of date, he said.

The report says psychiatric patients had the "run of the hospital" in many instances in the period 2001-2003.

Several patients went out on leave with substance abuse as an "active problem" and came back intoxicated, but although substance abuse was common, it was not listed as a diagnosis in the medical records.

No urine drug screens or other measures were taken to restrict access to drugs (or other substances), and there was no assessment of patients after they returned from leave.

They were not searched for "contraband".

A high number of assaults was a concern, and was a symptom of problems such as substance abuse and the shortage of psychiatrists.

Mr Clarke said a "no-blame culture" was now in place to encourage staff to report incidents.

Four permanent psychiatrists would be appointed by August, in addition to locum psychiatrists and registrars.

Herald Feature: Health

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- NZPA