Mental Health Ward 31 Down to Last Patient

By RANKIN JANINE

PALMERSTON North Hospital’s sub-acute mental health unit is down to its last patient, with plans to close Ward 31 at the end of March.

The milestone comes two-and-a-half years after MidCentral Health mental health services group manager Nicholas Glubb first recommended plans for a $1 million unit be dumped in favour of community care.

At any one time Ward 31 has been home for about 10 weeks for around 12 patients at a time. Mr Glubb said those people were not acutely ill, but they did have complex needs.

The money that would have been spent maintaining the unit is being shifted to building up an intensive rehabilitation and treatment service to support patients in their own homes or sheltered accommodation in the community.

Mr Glubb told the district health board’s hospital advisory committee yesterday that all but one client had now made a successful transition to living in the community, and the last would go within a couple of weeks.

There had been no new admissions to the ward for several months.

“I can now positively report that the new service is up and running and meeting the needs of patients being referred. Existing patients have good plans, and we can now build the capacity of that community service.”

Mr Glubb said the expectation now was that mental health patients would be well supported in the community with tailored packages of care, that staff would identify early any difficulties with their condition, and that interventions would avoid acute illness needing hospital admission.

Depending on Health Ministry approval, Ward 31 will close at the end of March.

The recommendation to go ahead with the closure was adopted by the committee despite earlier concerns about the perceived risks of community care.

Committee chairman Jack Drummond said the fact there had been no need for admissions over Christmas, “not the most stable time of the year”, was a significant achievement for the new community service.

Service project leader Joan McMillan said the extra care people were getting included daily personal contact and 24-hour phone-in support that was better than being in a bed in a ward.

“Wherever you have beds, you tend to get into the rut of using them rather than supporting people in a more real situation. For many, whose rehabilitation in the community is going well, it is lovely to see them in another environment.”