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RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Health NZ planned to vacate Segar House before public consultation, emails reveal
Ingrid Leary Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Health New Zealand intended to vacate at the end of January a central Auckland building occupied by a mental health service facing closure, correspondence shows. Labour's mental health spokeswoman, Ingrid Leary, said this shows officials originally intended to axe the service last year, but Health NZ said this isn't the case. It has proposed closing Rauaroha Segar House , a publicly funded intensive programme for people with long-standing or chronic mental health problems. Segar House. Photo: Google Maps Street View It's consulting on the proposal now , as staff rally to keep a service they and many patients say is unique. The programme at Segar House mixes individual therapy with group work and it runs from a building on Khyber Pass Road. Correspondence obtained from Health NZ by Leary shows officials gave the building owner formal notice on 16 December of its intention to vacate the building by 31 January. Another email showed the lease was previously slated to run out on 31 December. There is no mention in the correspondence of possible alternative venues for the programme. By 20 December, Health NZ's position had changed. "I would like to start by firstly apologising profusely for what I am about to write," Health NZ's real estate and space manager for its northern region, Harshna Mistry, wrote to a representative of the building owner. "It is wildly unusual for us to be this indecisive and I can only hope you can be understanding given the current financial and organisational challenges we as an organisation face. "My seniors have contacted me today to request if we can actually remain in the Khyber Pass property until 1 June 2025. It seems the service are not as prepared to vacate as we would have hoped. "I am truly sorry for the flip-flopping. I appreciate this is frustrating for you (I share this sentiment)." Health NZ has confirmed to RNZ that the lease for the building now runs until 30 September, having since been extended again. Leary said the emails she obtained were revealing. "It's very clear from the official documents that the plan was to shut down Segar House before the end of last year or at the end of January at the latest and there was no intention or open-mindedness about letting the service continue," she said. "It's very clear from the documents that the cost of the lease was a significant factor in their thinking." Health NZ denies this. RNZ has asked Health NZ if it intended to shut the service by January and, if not, what efforts it had made last year to search for an alternative venue for it. Its group director of operations for Te Toka Tumai Auckland Michael Shepherd said lease renewal wasn't a factor in its decision making. "We had not made any decisions about the service or committed to a change process last year," he said. "We were considering the range of ways we deliver our specialist mental health services in order to provide the best healthcare to our community, including the best value for taxpayer funding. "We therefore extended the lease for six months to allow for further work to occur. But no decisions had been made. "We assessed some other options, including internal and external facilities, to confirm we had suitable options to be able to continue the service. These did not need to be progressed because we were able to extend the lease." Staff were told about the closure proposal in early April, according to a document seen by RNZ. Leary said if there was a move to close the service earlier and staff weren't told then that showed bad faith when entering the present round of consultation. The tone of the emails was unusual and it showed the chaos caused by cuts to the health budget, she said. Just days before confirming the lease flip-flop, Mistry wrote to the building representative that extending the lease would be unlikely. "As you are aware Te Whatu Ora is in a significant period of flux at the moment and I apologise for the impact this is having on our external partners like yourselves. "I have discussed the details of the lease with my superiors. The appetite to absorb the necessary legal costs and go through the process of extending for a further six months is not something the organisation has funding for at this time." An internal email between Health NZ officials in March this year speaks of further extensions to the lease, which have since happened. "Recognising the lease and utilities cost approximately $165,000 per annum, we need to be confident the additional cost is essential," it said. Earlier this week Shepherd said Health NZ was on 18 June informed the Khyber Pass building was being sold. "A prospective buyer was scheduled to inspect the property on the same day. We informed the Rauaroha Segar House team about this on Wednesday morning [last week] by email." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Mental Health Cuts Lead To Overwhelmed EDs
Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party The Governments plan to transition from a police-led response to a mental health-response to mental health crises has no clear strategy and no dedicated roadmap. Its also coming too late, given the scale of need and violent incidences already occurring … Workforce shortages that mental health Minister Matt Doocey tried to hide are now resulting in increasing pressure on our emergency departments as people needing help have nowhere else to go. 'Funding cuts to the community mental health and addiction services has left the system barely able to function, forcing those who need help into hospital emergency departments,' Labour mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary said. 'Today's report from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission says that fewer people are accessing specialist mental health services because of workforce shortages. 'Despite repeated calls for investment and strategy, last week's Budget failed to address those mental health workforce gaps, or to support people to access specialist services. 'The Government's plan to transition from a police-led response to a mental health-response to mental health crises has no clear strategy and no dedicated roadmap. It's also coming too late, given the scale of need and violent incidences already occurring in and on the way to emergency departments. 'Frontline staff are having to cope with an escalating number of mental health scenarios in emergency departments and a significant number of those involve people grappling with addiction. 'Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey can't ignore the evidence in today's report, which shows longer wait times, declined referrals, and workforce shortages. 'The report makes clear what the sector has been saying for months: mental health and addiction are getting worse, not better, under this government,' Ingrid Leary said.
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Mental Health Cuts Lead To Overwhelmed EDs
Workforce shortages that mental health Minister Matt Doocey tried to hide are now resulting in increasing pressure on our emergency departments as people needing help have nowhere else to go. 'Funding cuts to the community mental health and addiction services has left the system barely able to function, forcing those who need help into hospital emergency departments,' Labour mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary said. 'Today's report from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission says that fewer people are accessing specialist mental health services because of workforce shortages. 'Despite repeated calls for investment and strategy, last week's Budget failed to address those mental health workforce gaps, or to support people to access specialist services. 'The Government's plan to transition from a police-led response to a mental health-response to mental health crises has no clear strategy and no dedicated roadmap. It's also coming too late, given the scale of need and violent incidences already occurring in and on the way to emergency departments. 'Frontline staff are having to cope with an escalating number of mental health scenarios in emergency departments and a significant number of those involve people grappling with addiction. 'Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey can't ignore the evidence in today's report, which shows longer wait times, declined referrals, and workforce shortages. 'The report makes clear what the sector has been saying for months: mental health and addiction are getting worse, not better, under this government,' Ingrid Leary said.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Labour's Ingrid Leary claims Casey Costello is not doing her job as Minister for Seniors
Casey Costello. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Labour's Ingrid Leary is accusing Casey Costello of being missing in action in her role as Minister for Seniors, but Costello has hit back, saying it shows the member has a "very shallow understanding of the Seniors portfolio". Answers by the Minister to Official Information requests and Written Parliamentary questions show she hasn't taken any papers under the Seniors portfolio to cabinet between taking office in late 2023 and the end of March this year. A search on the Beehive website shows only one press release from Costello as the Minister for Seniors since the term started. Leary, the party's spokesperson for Seniors, said Costello had done more to " help big tobacco than the older New Zealanders she has responsibility to protect the rights and interests of". "One of the very first things Casey Costello announced as minister was to overturn groundbreaking smokefree legislation that would have saved thousands of lives. "She also championed a $216 million tax break to encourage use of a tobacco product without proof it would reduce smoking rates, but would definitely profit big tobacco." Ingrid Leary. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone By contrast, Leary said Costello "hadn't presented a single cabinet paper to cabinet, her party or ministerial colleagues since coming into government in late 2023 to March 2025." Costello needed to "prove she's worth her portfolio" by advocating for the rights and interests of seniors, Leary said. Leary suggested that could be done by bringing forward the Retirement Villages Act review and by advocating for pay equity in the care and support workforce who look after "many of our grandparents, parents, and ourselves in our later years". Costello rejected the accusation, saying it showed the Labour MP didn't know what the government was doing to support older New Zealanders. She said the Office for Seniors (OFS) was a small office that did not administer legislation and "has never been a large generator of cabinet papers". "Cabinet papers are not a measure of either the government's commitment to older New Zealanders, or my focus and effort as Minister for Seniors." The OFS helped her work across government to deliver better results for older people, Costello said. Some of that work required her to work with other ministers including, for example, the changes to allow people to build subsidiary dwellings and the Retirement Village review. "And a substantial part of our policy programme for seniors is around improving aged care, which I'm responsible for as Associate Health Minister." Costello said older New Zealanders could be assured every commitment made to them in the NZ First-National coalition agreement would be met this during this government's term. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Unions lead protest on pay equity changes
Hundreds of protesters braved the wet weather in Dunedin to voice their outrage at the government's changes to the pay equity process. The Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed on Wednesday after being rushed through Parliament under urgency. Affected workers say they are "angry", "hurt" and "disappointed" and feel betrayed by the architect of the legislation, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden, but are determined to keep fighting. The legislation means 33 equity claims being negotiated will now have to restart the process under new criteria. Nationwide protests took place yesterday. In Dunedin, members from unions across a variety of sectors including First Union, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Public Service Association gathered in the Exchange to stand in solidarity against the amendment to the Equal Pay Act. Speakers from the unions and Labour MPs Ingrid Leary and Rachel Brooking led the chants. PSA organiser Jen Wilson said the rally was a fairly spontaneous uprising of anger and disgust by women and people who cared about women. She could not believe the Pay Equity Amendment Bill was passed on Wednesday. "I was shocked." The changes were not about equity and were about making cuts for the Budget, she argued. Although the process was not perfect it had been delivering pay increases and gender fair pay to women over the past few years. "For some claimants it will be impossible to make a payment successfully. "The power will be with employers and gender fair pay will be denied to hundreds of thousands of women." The consequences of the amendment to the Bill were ultimately poverty and hardship. A petition had gathered more than 56,000 signatures to reverse all claim cancellations, undo equal pay act changes and deliver pay equity. Earlier this week, Ms van Velden said pay equity claims had been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and it was difficult to tell wether the difference in pay was due to sex-based discrimination or other factors. Claims had cost the Crown $1.78 billion a year and the changes to discontinue current pay equity claims significantly reduced costs to the Crown. The current Act was not working as intended and a new and improved pay equity system would provide greater confidence that genuine pay equity issues would be correctly identified and addressed, she said.
