Rotorua's new Mauri Ora Mental Health Inpatient Unit has increased its budget to $33m. Image / Supplied
Rotorua's new Mauri Ora Mental Health Inpatient Unit has increased its budget to $33m. Image / Supplied
The budget for Rotorua’s new mental health inpatient facility has increased by $2m but a contractor has yet to be hired for the project.
The new building, for which Te Whatu Ora released design images exclusively to the Rotorua Daily Post this week, is now expected to cost $33m and be completed in early 2025, nearly four years later than originally planned.
New Zealand Psychological Society executive director Veronica Pitt said the delays were “extremely disappointing”.
“Facilities in this region particularly, in addition to others, require immediate upgrades but are constantly left out of the prioritisation process for hospital planning and building,” Pitt told the Rotorua Daily Post.
“Ultimately, this means that patients are being treated in substandard conditions. Urgent attention and focus on prioritising these buildings is required to meet the increasing mental health demands across the nation at present.”
Te Whatu Ora chief infrastructure and investment officer Jeremy Holman said the figure outlined in the organisation’s last media release on the project “did not account for the latest increase to the approved budget”.
“In December 2021, a request for additional funding was approved by the ministers of health and finance, increasing the approved budget of $31.1m to $33m,” Holman said.
“We are estimating a practical completion date in early 2025.”
He said it was important to note that, until a contractor was secured, the timeline and budget were “indicative”.
“The delays on the project are due mainly to the challenges of working in the constrained supplier market, the impacts of Covid-19 on clinical resources and consultants, abnormally wet weather since the start of the in-ground works and the ground conditions.”
In May 2019, the Government announced a record $1.9 billion total mental health package which included $200m in extra funding for new and existing mental health and addiction facilities.
The new facility will include a courtyard for activities such as basketball. Image supplied
In its funding announcement, the Government quoted an estimate that in 2014 the economic cost of serious mental illness alone was $12b, or 5 per cent of New Zealand’s gross domestic product.
An October briefing to Finance Minister Grant Robertson found that the Lakes mental health inpatient unit needed to be “re-baselined for time and/or budget reset expectations”.
The briefing also stated that the projects funded by the mental health package “were in excess of available funding” and “lacked investment strategy”.
The planned new adult mental health inpatient facility will have 16 beds in three pods with a fourth shell pod to allow for further beds in the future.
The configuration of the pods will allow different cohorts to be grouped according to their needs. For example older people, people with vulnerabilities such as physical health needs or people who require a safe, low-stimulus environment with more intensive nursing.
Design images for the facility show that it would include a courtyard for activities. The designs also give an idea of what one of the pods could look like.
Pitt said the New Zealand Psychological Society strongly recommended psychologists be consulted to support the design, planning and service delivery of mental health services.
Te Whatu Ora Lakes said in a statement that the design process included work by architects, engineers and project managers and consultation with mental health and addiction staff, iwi and consumers on the detailed design of the building.
