Bay of Plenty District Health Board silent on questions into culture report

Friday, 14 September 2018

No one is putting there hand-up to talk about a damning report into mental health services at the Bay of Plenty DHB.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board have remained publicly silent over a damning report into their Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Clinical director Dr Sue Mackersey resigned just weeks after a report summary was released in August into the department revealed a woeful culture.

However, elected board members have refused to speak with Stuff about the report, as has chairperson Sally Webb stating it's a management issue.

Management have also declined to answer questions with the DHB's communications team unable to put forward a spokesperson or answer specific questions put to them.

Dr Sue Mackersey resigned her position as the clinical director of the BOPDHB Health and Addictions Services team following a damning report.

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Bay of Plenty District Health board chair Sally Webb has declined to speak about the report saying it's a management issue (FILE).

An interview was requested with chief executive Helen Mason to discuss these issues which has, as yet, not been replied to.

The silence was not supported by Tauranga MP Jan Tinetti who said elected members, be members of parliament or district health board members, should be available to front questions.

'From my perspective, as an elected person, I will front things and I see that as my role,' she said.

'I will go back to the Minister in regards to what has come out.'

Access to the report itself has been denied under the Official Information Act, with the DHB citing that they couldn't release the report because they had to protect the privacy of natural persons.

Releasing the information would also interfere with DHB employees ability to enter into free and frank discussion.

The report was written by RAP Consulting over 12 weeks. They interviewed 150 staff, with 95 per cent having only neutral or negative comments about the service.

From the 70 nurses interviewed not one person had anything positive to say about the service.

The workload was identified to be immense with staff saying: 'It feels like we're drowning'.

Mental health and addiction service providers outside of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board said the staffing issues were likely to be related to resources.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation representative Paul Matthews said the nurses comments in the report were a concern as it showed a lack of staff and funding.

'We need more staff on the floor as there are not enough to man the decks,' he said.

'It does raise questions about how things got to this point considering we have a good working relationship with them.

'We do need to raise those questions with them. I do believe we can work through and come up with solutions that will help.'

After repeated requests a statement was issued by BOPDHB quality and patient safety manager Debbie Brown confirming they will not make further comment or answer the 16 questions asked of them.

'What we can say is that we are currently conducting a series of collaborative workshops with our Mental Health and Addiction staff about the evolution of the service moving forward,' she said.

'The focus of our compassionate and professional Mental Health and Addiction teams will remain the wellbeing of our patients as it always has.

'Our communities and patients can be assured that the high standards of care they have always received will continue into the future.'