New mental health unit for Hastings

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Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:10a.m.

Tony Ryall

Tony Ryall

The Government has finally found a buyer for the old Napier Hospital site, and will use the proceeds to build a new mental health unit.

On the market since 2006, the site has been bought by the Todd Property Group (TPG) for an undisclosed sum.

TPG sold land at Ngunguru Spit in Northland to the Department of Conservation to fund the purchase, in a deal that Health Minister Tony Ryall is calling a "win" for all involved.

"It’s a win, win, win for the Department of Conservation, Hawke's Bay District Health Board and the people of Napier," says Mr Ryall.

The Ministry of Health will contribute $5 million to the refurbishment of the mental health unit, located in Hastings. The Hawke's Bay District Health Board will use its $5.1 million share of the sale, as well as $10 million it already has.

"This is great news for Hawke's Bay," says Mr Ryall.

"Replacing the old mental health unit has been a high priority for quite some time. In 2009 I visited the current unit and I strongly support its replacement."

TPG, formerly known as Landco, bought the Ngunguru Spit in 2003 for a planned development of lifestyle blocks, but met with opposition from locals.

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Comments

26 Aug 2011 07:56a.m.

RolanTheRat wrote:

So Napier hospital is sold and Hastings gets the benefit how is this good for the people of Napier.Other than the need for a few of them going into the unit to join Tony.

25 Aug 2011 02:13p.m.

Te Rina wrote:

Being a resident of Napier I along with many other Napier residents are opposed to the sale of the Napier Hospital. I am waiting with anticipation for a large earthquake to strike Hawke's Bay and will jump in glee when the hospital in Hastings falls due to being built on an old riverbed while Napier hospital that is built on a rock stands proud and undamaged in a major earthquake. I sincerely hoped that the Treaty of Waitangi claims on the site would have returned to site to the Maori people who donated it to the city of Napier for a hospital. Hope National gets voted out at the election.

25 Aug 2011 01:29p.m.

RobertM wrote:

Once again Tony Ryall follows reactionary advice of old psychiatric specialists and retains provincial psychiatric units. Provincial psych hospitals are immensely unfair and undesirable for the poor patients forced into to them. The staff in provincial units are usually of lower calibre than those in the main centres they are inclined to lack insight and verbally abuse patients openly calling them mentals. Recent report from units like Wanganui, Nelson and Invercargill show the units do not provide fair and safe services. Too much hangs on the opinion of one psychaitrist too much influenced by local economic interests and conservatism.Often patients want to aviod the family, the family dosen't want them and is the problem . Most of all the existence of these units means that patients who once lived their are repeatedly and criminally forced back to these know hope conservative dead towns. Most of the patients incacertated in these provincial units have been fighting to get out of these boring inbred town all there lives and hate the provinces. I just cannot understand why they won't do the decent humane thing and close provincial units in these towns and puts the beds in the cities. It is the reactionary repressive sex denying atmosphere of the provinces that is the direct and often the real cause of the mental illness these people are experiencing.Very often they function as nothing but overflow for central cities and it would surely be more sensible to reopen a psych unit in Wellington hospital for these beds.
Moving the Wellington services from Newtow to the human wasteland of Kenepuru was another act of in humanity by the Health ministry that fails to grasp that most psych patients are intelligent , need sex and sophistication as their basic right and would be perfectly alllright if they had money and could get their drugs without discussion or hastle. What we want is money, drugs, sex and no abusive, patronising, lectures form psych staff.