{"id":271392,"date":"2026-02-06T23:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271392\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:09:10","slug":"health-nz-denies-aucklands-forensic-facility-for-people-charged-with-serious-crimes-is-understaffed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271392\/","title":{"rendered":"Health NZ denies Auckland\u2019s forensic facility for people charged with serious crimes is understaffed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MinisterMinister for Mental Health Matt Doocey at the opening ceremony for the new unit at the Mason Clinic last Friday.<\/p>\n

Fitzsimons said Health NZ delayed recruitment for these critical roles and was now in a position where it was looking for staff at \u201cthe very last moment\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from the Weekend Herald, HNZ group director of operations Waitemat\u0101 Brad Healey said Health NZ was \u201cactively recruiting\u201d to fill the additional 57 roles and interviews were underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny suggestion E T\u016b Wairua Hinengaro will operate understaffed is incorrect,\u201d Healey said.<\/p>\n

He said there was time to complete the recruitment of the new staff as the transition of all patients would be carried out over a period of several months.<\/p>\n

The first patients will begin being moved across from the old facility in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoles have been advertised, there has been a good response from candidates, shortlisting has been completed and interviews are underway,\u201d Healey said.<\/p>\n

Fitzsimons said staff at the Mason Clinic were extremely worried about the large number of vacancies in the new facility, and the numbers of new staff they would have to train up while adjusting themselves to the new facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new facility needed to be fully staffed from day one to perform its critical function,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only embarrassing for a government that made rebuilding the mental health system a top priority, but it\u2019s irresponsible at a time when assaults on mental health workers are rising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, the Weekend Herald reported on a young nurse who was left with a permanent hip injury<\/a> after an assault by a patient in a mental health ward.<\/p>\n

Healey said the staged opening of the unit had always been planned to ensure a smooth transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never an intention to have patients from the current units transferring all at once,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fitzsimons said the new facilities required more staff due to patients having their own bathrooms and one of the wards, the Kauri unit, being reclassified as high security.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaff are beyond burnt out. Instances of assaults on staff from patients are all too common,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe final result is that the people at the Mason Clinic aren\u2019t getting the care they need as part of their rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mason Clinic was set up following an inquiry into the care of mentally ill offenders led by Judge Ken Mason in 1988. The historic report found forensic psychiatry in New Zealand was \u201cpoorly disciplined, under-funded and under-staffed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mental Health & Addictions Service Enhancement national director Phil Grady said the new facility would result in better outcomes for patients and a better working environment for the dedicated forensic psychiatry teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis facility represents the latest chapter in a long and important story, the evolution of the Mason Clinic and of forensic mental healthcare in New Zealand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey at the opening ceremony for the new unit at the Mason Clinic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,51,3952,13239,2562,6129,8453,28428,11163,2082,106380,134,5838,185,5983,663,32295,111,43,139,69,384,4894,18844,1238,49191,1361,153522,46656,102],"class_list":["post-271392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-charged","tag-claims","tag-crimes","tag-criminals","tag-denies","tag-facility","tag-for","tag-forensic","tag-health","tag-help","tag-is","tag-levels","tag-looks","tag-needing","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-psychiatric","tag-rejecting","tag-serious","tag-staffing","tag-that","tag-understaffed","tag-unsafe","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}