Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem delegated two inspectors to visit ward 9b at Wakari Hospital, unannounced, on March 20 this year.
Ward 9b is a 17-bed intensive and acute care mental health inpatient unit.
The Chief Ombudsman is designated under the Crimes of Torture Act to examine and monitor the conditions and treatment of patients in secure New Zealand hospitals.
The average length of patient stay in ward 9b was 15 days, a report of the inspectors' findings said.
On the inspection day, there were eight female and nine male patients in the ward and no patients in the two ''seclusion rooms'' in ward 9b, the report said.
In the six-month period from September last year, there were 164 ''seclusion incidents'' involving 68 patients and total ''seclusion time'' of 4452 hours.
The patients' time in seclusion ranged from 30 minutes to 281 hours (11 days and 17 hours).
Although 77 seclusion incidents, and 1409 seclusion hours, could be attributed to two long-term patients, the ''seclusion use in the ward seems reasonably high'', Dame Beverley said in the report.
The report also revealed 133 incidents of restraint involving 34 patients in seven months from August last year. About 80% of the restraints were the holding of arms and the rest were ''prone-on-the-floor'' restraints. The average restraint time was five minutes and 15 seconds.
The report noted nearly half of the restraints involved two long-term patients and the inspectors had no concern with the number of restraints used in ward 9b.
Patients whom inspectors spoke to had a ''reasonable understanding'' of their medication and were ''reasonably complimentary'' about the staff.
There was no evidence of patients being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in the past six months, the report said. Patients had access to family and friends and outdoor exercise.
In the report, ward 9b management said the document was an accurate reflection of the ward.
Dr James Knight, the medical director of mental health directorate, said the use of seclusion and physical restraint in the mental health, addictions and intellectual disability services were closely monitored and efforts were made to minimise their use.
