Invercargill National MP Penny Simmonds said the review of the understaffed Southland Mental Health Service — which has fewer than half the number of senior medical officers needed — should be made public to ensure concerns are addressed.
However HNZ said it would not release the document publicly while recommendations were worked through with staff, a move supported by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
The review of the Southland Hospital Mental Health, Addictions, and Intellectual Disability Service (MHAIDS) was commissioned in March 2023 after clinicians raised problems with workplace culture, communication, working relationships, models of care, and the impact of workforce shortages.
Ms Simmonds said the Government needed to come clean about workforce shortages and staff and patient safety concerns.
"I have made an Official Information Act request to have this review released publicly, to ensure that clinicians’ concerns are heard and that staffing issues are addressed.
"The people of Southland need to understand what is happening with mental health services in this province and be reassured about the safety of the service."
Not releasing the review failed to acknowledge the concerns around staffing and failed to reassure the community about the service, she said.
Understaffing of the hospital’s 16-bed acute mental health inpatient unit had been chronic for years, and there was not enough support for staff and patients.
"The community needs to understand the staffing and safety issues so that the Government can be held to account."
HNZ Southern interim hospital and specialist services leader Hamish Brown said there were 4.4 FTE senior medical officers working in the Southland Mental Health team between the inpatient unit and adult community service, but another 5.6 were sought.
The team had locum support, and there were fewer vacancies among other types of staff such as nurses and healthcare assistants.
"Southern is no different to the rest of Aotearoa with shortages in our healthcare workforce," he said.
More than 30 staff staff were interviewed for the review, which was being taken "very seriously".
HNZ Southern was committed to improving staff wellbeing and relationships within the service and the wider MHAID community, he said.
"We will not be releasing the review document publicly while we work through the recommendations with our staff," he said.
The Southern senior management had met staff to discuss the review and recommendations, and a process was in place to move forward.
"We are actively recruiting for senior medical officers and have recently employed a nurse consultant to better support interprofessional working.
"We are in a process of changing the leadership model across MHAIDs to a more collaborative model."
With the impact of Covid-19 and shortages, it had been a very tough time for staff, he said.
ASMS executive director Sarah Dalton said last week the association was concerned about the safety of the service, from both a staff and a patient perspective.
It was concerned about low staffing levels, a failure to monitor the service, and a difficult work environment with a culture that did not seem to support doctors in their work.
Ms Dalton said yesterday she had been to Southland to meet the members who had first raised their concerns with HNZ.
Psychiatry was already one of the specialties with the highest rates of burnout, and the specialty where employees were most likely to say they intended to move overseas.
"I understand there is some pressure to make the findings of Te Whatu Ora’s internal review public as soon as possible, but our members are keen to give the organisation time to produce a response that will ensure some real improvement."
