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A second investigation has been launched into mental health services in Wellington after another patient under care committed suicide.
The latest case involves IT consultant Finn Higgins, 26, whose body was found on Friday night after he went missing a month ago.
Higgins' family had twice attempted to have the depressed man committed under the Mental Health Act but alleged issues with staff - and a failure by Wellington's Crisis Assessment Treatment Team (Catt) to pick up Higgins for treatment - resulted in him fleeing his home.
His family are demanding answers as to why Higgins, who had taken sedatives and attempted to drown himself in Oriental Bay earlier in the day, was not seen by the Catt team despite calls from his distressed girlfriend.
The latest case comes only a week after Capital and Coast District Health apologised to the family of young legal executive Janine Fraser who was found dead after being sent home from a community respite house. Fraser, whose story was told in the Herald on Sunday last week, had begged doctors to stay in care but was refused.
A Herald on Sunday investigation this week can also reveal:
Reports of up to six suicides since mid-December of people who had been in contact with the Wellington Catt team shortly before their deaths. Families of some of the deceased told the Herald on Sunday they were happy with the treatment received but others, including the Fraser family, believe staff and bed shortages may have played a role.
Shortages of psychiatric specialists in Wellington have resulted in American doctors being used as locums for three- to six-month stints.
One Auckland psychiatrist is being flown to Wellington three days each week to cover gaps in the system at a cost believed to be up to $5000 per week.
Wellington consultant psychiatrist Anthony Duncan said psychiatric beds in the city are almost always full, sometimes risking the discharge of patients before they are ready. "In an ideal world you would like to admit some people, but you can't," he told the Herald on Sunday. He said generally staff "did a great job".
Long delays in doctors seeing patients because of staff shortages. Janine Fraser waited eight hours at Wellington Hospital when initially seeking treatment last December.
The recent tragedies come after a review criticised mental health services in Auckland, where 12 patients under the care of Waitemata District Health Board's mental health service took their lives in 2006-2007. The health board subsequently made a string of changes including strengthening training in assessing the risks patients posed.
Capital and Coast District Health Board chief executive Derek Milne confirmed on Friday that the board was investigating Higgins' care, but would not comment further until this was complete.
He said the health board was currently only 2.5 doctors short and said using American doctors as locums, or flying doctors from other cities, was not a long-standing arrangement but was common among all DHBs in the short term.
Higgins' sister Zoe Gilbert said the health board's clinical director of mental health services, Murray Patton, told her errors had been made in her brother's care.
"[He] told me they were incredibly busy that day," said Gilbert.
Higgins had come under Catt's care four days before his disappearance on Monday, February 11 due to his worsening depression.
Gilbert said Patton told her the psychiatric worker who saw her brother that morning was not qualified to commit Higgins under the Mental Health Act so called another worker to commit him. When Higgins was left alone with his distressed girlfriend waiting for the second worker to arrive, he fled the house and tried to drown himself.
Gilbert said Higgins returned at 4pm that day dripping wet and with jellyfish stings on his neck. He had taken sedatives and slept for three hours. During this time, his girlfriend rang Catt twice saying she feared for Higgins' life and was told the police would be called to pick him up. Gilbert said she has been told by police that a call was never received.
When Higgins woke at the house after 7pm, he fled again and disappeared. A body found in the Mt Victoria area on Friday night has since been identified as Higgins.
Gilbert said if Higgins had been committed that morning he would have received the care he needed. If the Catt team had come when called during the three hours he slept, he may also have been saved. Now she is demanding answers as to why the team handled the case the way it did.
