After revelations of overcrowding, poor conditions and glacial progress getting shovels in the ground, Government MPs have blocked an inquiry into planned new mental health units. Oliver Lewis reports.
The five Labour MPs on the 10-person health select committee have blocked a proposal by National’s mental health spokesman, Matt Doocey, to hold an inquiry into progress on planned new mental health facilities.
The motion called for an inquiry into 15 mental health unit upgrades currently being developed around the country. Among other focus areas, Doocey wanted to get to the root of any delays and see what could be done to accelerate progress. The National MP also wanted the inquiry to look at how community facilities could reduce demand on inpatient services and whether New Zealand currently had a gold standard design for new mental health facilities.
Doocey was disappointed with the outcome of the vote, which took place during the health select committee meeting on Wednesday.
“I just think it’s outrageous when both opposition and government parties have agreed that there is a level of frustration with the new inpatient facilities not progressing at pace,” he said.
“It’s clear that everyone has concerns that there’s no shovels in the ground and this was an opportunity for the Government to show that, for them, it's about action and not rhetoric.”
The Government has come under mounting pressure over its track record on mental health following an investigation by Newsroom, which revealed systemic overcrowding in units; the shocking condition of many buildings, including leaking and mould issues; and the slow pace getting money to improve and upgrade facilities out the door.
In the aftermath of the investigation and other media reporting, Health Minister Andrew Little indicated he wanted the $1.9 billion mental health and wellbeing package, a centrepiece of the 2019 Budget, to be reviewed. The money has failed to flow through to services and facilities upgrades at the promised rate, drawing the ire of advocates and opposition politicians who have accused Labour of failing to live up to its transformational rhetoric around mental health.
In his inquiry proposal, Doocey drew heavily on information uncovered by Newsroom, including sections lifted almost verbatim from the reporting.
“There are concerns that many mental health facilities are overcrowded and no longer fit-for-purpose,” he wrote.
“In the past five years, vulnerable patients have been treated in tired, run-down buildings with reported issues including leaking, vermin and pest issues, and poor standards of ventilation, maintenance and cleanliness.”
About 9500 people received inpatient mental health care in 2020, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Health. As Newsroom revealed, and Doocey echoed in his submission, the majority of district health boards (DHBs) had at least one month in the year to November 2020 where their acute mental health units were over 100 percent occupancy. Most resorted to sleeping people in inappropriate places on mattresses, including seclusion rooms - stark, austere spaces meant for locking up people deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. International best practice for occupancy levels is no more than 85 percent.
The Government has announced $438.2 million for the 15 new or refurbished mental health facilities since November 2017. Figures provided by Little in the House last month showed $24.9m, just 6 percent of the total, had been spent. At the time, the health minister said all but one of the projects was on schedule. However, he has also expressed frustration at the time taken to get shovels in the ground.
In a press release on Wednesday morning, Doocey said the inquiry would “investigate the pace of design, planning and building of mental health facilities, given the desperate need of them now”.
National, Act and Green MPs voted for the inquiry motion, Doocey said. But all five Labour MPs voted against.
In a statement provided to Newsroom, Little said he had asked for a stocktake of the mental health and wellbeing programme funded in Budget 2019 as it was now halfway through the four-to-five year roll-out period. The work was due to be carried out by Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson’s implementation unit.
“My principal concern is the time it is taking to get the major capital works projects underway,” Little said.
“I also want to make sure the workforce issues will not be an impediment to the ongoing roll-out of the remainder of the programme over the next two to three years.”
Newsroom revealed last month planning for one of the projects, a new mental health unit in Whakatāne, had been complicated by disagreement over bed numbers.
