Source: Radio New Zealand
Workers at North Shore Hospital’s He Puna Waiora secure mental health unit have reported multiple assaults. RNZ
- Another serious assault at North Shore Hospital mental health unit
- The PSA says staff had been pleading for help
- Health NZ says it added extra workers before it opened five new beds last month.
A mental health worker was strangled by a patient a day after their colleagues pleaded for extra staff, but Health New Zealand has rejected the idea that short-staffing played any part in the incident.
Workers at North Shore Hospital’s He Puna Waiora secure mental health unit have been protesting for months about the violence, alleging they are bullied if they speak up.
Health NZ has confirmed there was a “serious assault” on 18 October.
This occurred just after the unit added five extra beds, and while HNZ was looking into a previous assault where a staffer was injured after hitting their head.
“On the 18th October there was another serious assault involving strangulation,” said PSA union national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons, adding this was partly due to being overstretched.
“Just the day before, our staff said they were pleading for staff numbers to be increased,” the union said in a separate statement.
“Their request for extra staff was only acted on for two shifts – staffing had decreased again at the time of the assault.”
Health NZ Te Whatu Ora group director of operations for Waitematā Brad Healey said the unit had added seven new positions this year before the 18 October assault.
“There is no evidence linking this incident to the recent bed increase, as it occurred in the high-care area of the unit, where no bed or staffing changes were made.
“At the time, the unit was fully staffed,” he said in a statement to RNZ.
He added the assault was “managed appropriately, with immediate support provided to those affected”.
The secure unit had five beds added in mid-October, making a total of 40 beds.
Healey said the beds were opened following extensive preparation and recruitment.
“The unit has been funded and staffed for this level of capacity for some time, with an increase of seven FTEs [full-time equivalents] this year prior to the opening of the beds.”
Fitzsimons pushed back: “This is wrong.
“We stand by our previous statement – there have been no additional staff recruited to cover the additional beds.
“There was a consultation period, but we disagree it was extensive. The PSA was not provided the documentation needed to do meaningful consultation, and Health NZ consistently misled both PSA officials and members of staff on what the process would look like.”
Healey responded: “We acknowledge we have more work to do to further improve our communication with staff and intend to raise this at the next meeting with staff and PSA.”
Fitzsimons said the core problem was the unit’s minimum safe staffing levels were too low, saying this illustrated why healthcare workers were striking nation-wide.
The latest violence came while the two sides were preparing to meet to talk about violence and a half dozen other problems listed in a safety notice in September that 50 of the staff had signed.
That meeting would now take place on 17 November.
The problems had mostly not been resolved and it would ask at the meeting for staff to be increased, the PSA said.
Part of the problem was four elderly patients that staff said they were not equipped to deal with, and who should be moved to a specialised facility. HNZ rejected moving them.
The unit lacked equipment to work with them, and staff lacked the training, the PSA said.
Healey acknowledged that training was “an area for improvement”. About a quarter of staff had been trained, and that was set to rise to a third by the end of the year.
Another problem – bathroom drains that regularly got blocked and flooded the unit, sometimes with faeces – had been fixed.
Health NZ had previously acknowledged that staff suffered “real and valid” trauma from witnessing another worker hitting their head when restraining a patient a few weeks ago.
That case and the strangulation have sparked internal reviews.
The September notice raised the “increased risk of physical violence; high likelihood of serious injury” at He Puna Waiora.
The secure unit has a troubled history, including a 2020 inquiry into two patient suicides, and critical Ombudsman reports in 2019 and 2022, including about staff shortages.
The government last week announced $60m of mental health funding over four years, including $7m a year for 40 more front-line clinical staff nation-wide and two new 10-bed acute services so fewer people would need to be admitted as inpatients.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
