The Public Service Association (PSA) says the Southern District Health Board plans more cuts to its already strained mental health service.
It comes just days after a Ministry of Health report revealed the board's rate of mental health seclusion events - locking patients away in isolation - was more than three times the national average last year.
The board said while seclusion rates were too high, it could not afford to hire more nurses to reduce its reliance on placing patients in isolation if they posed a risk. It would, however, work to reduce the practice using other means.
Yesterday PSA southern region organiser Julie Morton said restructuring was planned to inpatient and community mental health services, including bed reductions.
''My fear is that the service will decline ... the quality of the service will be less,'' she said.
Staff were already under pressure and over-use of practices like seclusion reflected lack of resources. It and other service shortcomings should not be blamed on staff, which she felt the public needed to understand.
''If there isn't enough money to actually provide the service properly and keep our consumers of mental health safe ... then [the board] need to be lobbying [Health Minister Tony Ryall] for more funding, but it's almost like they're reluctant to do that.''
Staff were yet to be told details of the restructuring.
Ms Morton had heard the board's cost-saving refrain many times previously, but it was ''different this time''. She was given that message in a recent meeting with the board's human resources team when she had questioned the seriousness of the situation.
''They said to me that it means there will be considerable change coming up, and if I thought this year was busy, next year was going to be an awful lot busier.''
Health board patient services director Lexie O'Shea said in an email changes to mental health staffing numbers would ''on the whole'' be through roster changes and attrition.
''We need unions to work alongside us as we move to improve the services we deliver to the community.
''If we can treat more people in the community, it is better for those people and their health. Change can be daunting, but it is essential to deliver quality modern care to those who need it.''
