Latest news with #RauarohaSegarHouse
RNZ News
27-06-2025
- 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.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Health NZ wants to close a mental health facility, staff say more people need it
Photo: 123RF Warning: This story mentions suicide. Staff at an Auckland mental health facility are rallying to save what they say is a vital service for people who otherwise fall through the cracks. Health New Zealand is proposing to close Rauaroha Segar House, a publicly funded intensive programme for people with long-standing or chronic mental health problems. The proposal says not enough people are treated there and staff will be better deployed elsewhere, but staff say it can be saved. RNZ has spoken to a clinician at Segar, who said the central city service must remain. "Our main concern is that Segar House is a unique service. It's actually one-of-a-kind in the North Island," they said. "It treats people with chronic suicidality and trauma. It's offering gold-standard treatment for people who couldn't get proper treatment in the community mental health service." The clinician requested anonymity because they feared speaking out following a recent directive from Health NZ reminding staff not to talk publicly. The directive said Health NZ's communications team could respond to media in a timely, accurate and consistent manner, while representing the organisation in a positive manner. Despite that, the clinician said the public had a right to know what it stood to lose. "It works. The clients that are coming to Segar House are probably clients who are bouncing between the urgent services [or have] longer admissions to the hospital inpatient units. "Most of our clients, when they graduate the programme they don't require any more mental health service inputs." The intensive programme is a mixture of individual and group sessions, and for the people attending it's like a full-time job. After a change in 2019 tightened the criteria of who could enter the programme, it was now for people who haven't found a programme that worked elsewhere. Staff said that's limited the numbers of people the programme could see and Health NZ cited low numbers - there were about 10 people at any given time - as one of the reasons behind the proposal to close. But the clinician said that could change. "We're calling for an immediate halt to the disestablishment proposal and for a revitalisation plan that will help us be responsive to the clients and the service's need. "I do think we should increase the number of clients that are being treated at Segar House." The staff proposal sent to Health NZ this week has called for a loosening of the programme's entry criteria and said it could treat people drawn from a bigger area. It was thought a decision on the proposal to close could be made as soon as Thursday - and Health NZ's original proposal said it would happen this week - but mental health minister Matt Doocey has confirmed it now won't be that soon. Kyle MacDonald, a psychotherapist who previously worked at Segar House, said closing it would mean more costs later. "From the moment I first read the proposal I was both shocked and upset because I know not only how vital a service Segar House is, but also how high risk the clients they serve are. "The reality is if we lose Segar House as a service there will not be a replacement service for these extremely high-risk, chronically suicidal patients who do very very well under this treatment." The service was operating on about half its full staff capacity of seven full-time equivalent positions, but was fully supporting its clients, he said. "People will be there four or five days a week. They will attend three or four groups a week. Those will be skills groups, learning particular behavioural skills... around regulating your emotions and dealing with high levels of distress. "It also includes things like mindfulness groups, and also trauma-focused group therapy, where people learn to manage and process past traumatic experiences." Health NZ group director of operations for Auckland Michael Shepherd said the proposal to close Segar House wouldn't reduce the number of frontline mental health staff, and would instead mean their expertise was available to more people when they're redeployed. It had very low numbers of people access the programme and in other districts they would be treated in other individual and group-based programmes, which was proposed here. "The consultation process is still under way and no decision as to the proposal has been made," Shepherd said. "While the consultation process is occurring people will continue to receive the same service and support that they are currently receiving." Labour spokeswoman for mental health Ingrid Leary said it felt like a decision had already been made to close the facility. "The Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey, needs to show some leadership to pause the closure and get some proper independent advice before he rushes to make yet another cut, which will actually have serious safety and financial consequences." Staff from Segar House could end up in the private sector, where pay and conditions were better, and the service should stay open while it was properly reviewed, she said. Doocey said he'd sought and received assurance from Health NZ it would take as long as needed to carefully consider feedback, and a decision was some time away. "It would not meet my expectations for a decision to be made this week, days after consultation has closed," he said. "As I said previously at the time this was announced, I expect to be briefed on the outcome of the consultation. "I would not want to get ahead of having the opportunity to consider the feedback and advice from officials, therefore I have nothing further to add at this stage." Segar House's lease agreement on its Khyber Pass Road property runs out at the end of June.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Health NZ wants to close this mental health facility, staff say more people need it
Photo: 123RF Warning: This story mentions suicide. Staff at an Auckland mental health facility are rallying to save what they say is a vital service for people who otherwise fall through the cracks. Health New Zealand is proposing to close Rauaroha Segar House, a publicly funded intensive programme for people with long-standing or chronic mental health problems. The proposal says not enough people are treated there and staff will be better deployed elsewhere, but staff say it can be saved. RNZ has spoken to a clinician at Segar, who said the central city service must remain. "Our main concern is that Segar House is a unique service. It's actually one-of-a-kind in the North Island," they said. "It treats people with chronic suicidality and trauma. It's offering gold-standard treatment for people who couldn't get proper treatment in the community mental health service." The clinician requested anonymity because they feared speaking out following a recent directive from Health NZ reminding staff not to talk publicly. The directive said Health NZ's communications team could respond to media in a timely, accurate and consistent manner, while representing the organisation in a positive manner. Despite that, the clinician said the public had a right to know what it stood to lose. "It works. The clients that are coming to Segar House are probably clients who are bouncing between the urgent services [or have] longer admissions to the hospital inpatient units. "Most of our clients, when they graduate the programme they don't require any more mental health service inputs." The intensive programme is a mixture of individual and group sessions, and for the people attending it's like a full-time job. After a change in 2019 tightened the criteria of who could enter the programme, it was now for people who haven't found a programme that worked elsewhere. Staff said that's limited the numbers of people the programme could see and Health NZ cited low numbers - there were about 10 people at any given time - as one of the reasons behind the proposal to close. But the clinician said that could change. "We're calling for an immediate halt to the disestablishment proposal and for a revitalisation plan that will help us be responsive to the clients and the service's need. "I do think we should increase the number of clients that are being treated at Segar House." The staff proposal sent to Health NZ this week has called for a loosening of the programme's entry criteria and said it could treat people drawn from a bigger area. It was thought a decision on the proposal to close could be made as soon as Thursday - and Health NZ's original proposal said it would happen this week - but mental health minister Matt Doocey has confirmed it now won't be that soon. Kyle MacDonald, a psychotherapist who previously worked at Segar House, said closing it would mean more costs later. "From the moment I first read the proposal I was both shocked and upset because I know not only how vital a service Segar House is, but also how high risk the clients they serve are. "The reality is if we lose Segar House as a service there will not be a replacement service for these extremely high-risk, chronically suicidal patients who do very very well under this treatment." The service was operating on about half its full staff capacity of seven full-time equivalent positions, but was fully supporting its clients, he said. "People will be there four or five days a week. They will attend three or four groups a week. Those will be skills groups, learning particular behavioural skills... around regulating your emotions and dealing with high levels of distress. "It also includes things like mindfulness groups, and also trauma-focused group therapy, where people learn to manage and process past traumatic experiences." Health NZ group director of operations for Auckland Michael Shepherd said the proposal to close Segar House wouldn't reduce the number of frontline mental health staff, and would instead mean their expertise was available to more people when they're redeployed. It had very low numbers of people access the programme and in other districts they would be treated in other individual and group-based programmes, which was proposed here. "The consultation process is still under way and no decision as to the proposal has been made," Shepherd said. "While the consultation process is occurring people will continue to receive the same service and support that they are currently receiving." Labour spokeswoman for mental health Ingrid Leary said it felt like a decision had already been made to close the facility. "The Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey, needs to show some leadership to pause the closure and get some proper independent advice before he rushes to make yet another cut, which will actually have serious safety and financial consequences." Staff from Segar House could end up in the private sector, where pay and conditions were better, and the service should stay open while it was properly reviewed, she said. Doocey said he'd sought and received assurance from Health NZ it would take as long as needed to carefully consider feedback, and a decision was some time away. "It would not meet my expectations for a decision to be made this week, days after consultation has closed," he said. "As I said previously at the time this was announced, I expect to be briefed on the outcome of the consultation. "I would not want to get ahead of having the opportunity to consider the feedback and advice from officials, therefore I have nothing further to add at this stage." Segar House's lease agreement on its Khyber Pass Road property runs out at the end of June.
