![\"Coroner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A5PCD7HSYRGVPDM2YBRWQSNEOE.jpg\")
Coroner Matthew Bates. Photo \/ Jeremy Wilkinson<\/p>\n
By Jimmy Ellingham of RNZ<\/p>\n
Content warning: This story mentions suicide<\/p>\n
Fourteen staff members at Palmerston North Hospital\u2019s new mental health ward, Ng\u0101 Wai Ng\u0101ro, have been forced off work after being assaulted by patients.<\/p>\n
Now, the brother of a former patient of the service, who died by suicide while under its care, says inadequate staffing levels are putting people at risk.<\/p>\n
This week, Coroner Matthew Bates also criticised staffing levels at the service, when he released his damning findings into the preventable death of ward patient Erica Hume.<\/p>\n
Ricky Gray, whose brother, Shaun, died by suicide in 2014, has used the Official Information Act to uncover raw data about assaults across Palmerston North Hospital\u2019s mental health facilities.<\/p>\n
He found there were 24 assaults on staff at the hospital\u2019s new ward and the geriatric mental health unit in February, and another 47 in March.<\/p>\n
During the three months before patients moved into the new $67 million unit in February, numbers were in the teens, where they returned in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers there are showing that every day a staff member is going home after being assaulted,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir family are there to support them, obviously, but they have to pick themselves up the next day and go to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think any worker should have to go through that each day. It\u2019s got to be affecting them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the criticisms Coroner Bates levelled at the service when considering the 2014 deaths by suicide of Shaun Gray and Erica Hume was staffing levels.<\/p>\n
Coroner Matthew Bates. Photo \/ Jeremy Wilkinson<\/p>\n
The coroner found understaffing was putting too much pressure on those on duty at the old ward.<\/p>\n
Ricky Gray said that although the physical environment had changed since the opening of the new unit, the staffing situation had not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most concerning thing for us really is it\u2019s not just short-staffing alone. As demonstrated in the external reviews and the coronial findings from Shaun\u2019s death, the issue becomes bigger than just numbers on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with the sustained pressures that they\u2019re all under, the culture in the workplace is now like a cancer. People are becoming exhausted, desensitised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new ward has a different layout and nurses\u2019 desks are scattered throughout.<\/p>\n
Ricky Gray said because of such changes, the move into the unit should have happened gradually to ease stress.<\/p>\n
Erica Hume\u2019s mother, Carey, agreed, likening the transition to moving house.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you put that into a mental health-ward context, you\u2019ve got staff unfamiliar even though they\u2019ve had training in there, new patients coming in who don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on or how things work,\u201d Carey Hume said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re stressed because of that. They\u2019re stressed and in there because they aren\u2019t well and they need some help to get back to being in full health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raw figures didn\u2019t always include the context behind incidents, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find the staff are encouraged to report every minor [incident], but they don\u2019t report the circumstances that led to an event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s quite often quite telling because that\u2019s the patient\u2019s perspective of it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carey Hume was concerned about short staffing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur feedback that we gave them was that we stressed the hospital design, the ward layout and operating model, was heavily reliant on staff presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, it was vital all shifts were fully staffed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health NZ interim group director of operations MidCentral Katherine Fraser-Chapple said there had been a slight increase in instances of aggression towards staff for a range of reasons, including highly unwell patients and adjustments to the new environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the recent spike has understandably heightened concern, overall incident patterns remain within the range we typically see across a 12-month period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have strongly encouraged staff to report all incidents, including lower-level behaviours such as verbal abuse, to ensure we have a complete picture of risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since February, 14 staff had suffered injuries requiring time off work. Of those, 10 had returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe incidents recorded since February vary widely, from verbal threats and verbal abuse through to physical contact, pushing, and more serious assaults such as punching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health NZ had a violence and aggression steering group overseeing \u201csystem-wide improvements\u201d, while the new ward had a violence minimisation working group, led by the charge nurse.<\/p>\n
Health NZ said its figures about assaults referred to the new ward only, and didn\u2019t include the geriatric ward.<\/p>\n
Recruitment remained a focus, Fraser-Chapple said, but Health NZ didn\u2019t say how many vacancies there were.<\/p>\n
On Friday, New Zealand Nurses Organisation publication Kaitiaki reported the new ward had vacancies for 20 fulltime equivalent workers.<\/p>\n
Nurses Organisation delegate and Wellington-based mental health nurse Grant Brookes said the rise in assaults could relate to staffing levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new unit is more than twice the floor space of the old unit and staffing numbers haven\u2019t been increased.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one possible factor for the spike in assaults with the opening of the new unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
It had a flow-on effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a whaiora [patient] becomes distressed in one part of the building, it takes a lot longer for staff to respond to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also means they won\u2019t necessarily have multiple staff responding when it\u2019s needed. Distress can quickly escalate in this new, bigger space in a way that it didn\u2019t in the smaller one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assaults on healthcare workers were increasing across the country, particularly in mental health wards and emergency departments, Brookes said.<\/p>\n
SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION – RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jimmy Ellingham of RNZ Content warning: This story mentions suicide Fourteen staff members at Palmerston North Hospital\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,392,393,394,264822],"class_list":["post-737129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-palmerstonnorth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Where to get help:
\u2022 Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24\/7)
\u2022 Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24\/7)
\u2022 Youth services: (06) 3555 906
\u2022 Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
\u2022 What’s Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
\u2022 Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24\/7)
\u2022 Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
\u2022 Aoake te R\u0101 (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000053 or [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.<\/p>\n