features similar to those in prisons<\/a> and identified a roof prone to leaks. <\/p>\nThe statement said the new unit increased the number of available beds from 14 to 16. The design also provided flexibility for \u201cfuture expansion\u201d.<\/p>\n
The unit will provide acute mental health and addictions inpatient assessment, treatment, and care for adults in the Lakes district.<\/p>\n
Features of the building include individual bedrooms, therapy and activity spaces, internal courtyards, family areas, and a \u201cpod-based layout\u201d that supports more personalised care, including quieter, low-stimulus environments, as well as areas for vulnerable patients and older people.<\/p>\n
Health NZ Lakes operations group director Alan Wilson said the opening marked a significant day for mental health services across the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new unit provides a modern environment better suited to delivering contemporary mental health and addiction care and supporting the needs of patients, wh\u0101nau and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson said the new building provided a \u201ctherapeutic environment to support recovery, wellbeing, connection and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Rotorua]()
Rotorua Hospital’s former mental health inpatient unit Whare Whakaue pictured in 2020. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the previous unit no longer provided the right environment for people to get well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople go into these facilities to get the support they need to get better, and they deserve a place that helps them do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doocey said the increased capacity would mean more people in the Lakes district could access support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also matters for our frontline workers. Mental health staff do an incredibly important job supporting people through some of the most difficult moments in their lives, and they need the right facilities to do that job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doocey said the $50m investment in the facility was part of Health NZ\u2019s mental health infrastructure programme, which included 18 projects to improve mental health facilities around the country.<\/p>\n
He said the Government was also investing in better primary mental health support, specialist services and promotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy investing earlier, we can help prevent more people from reaching the point where they need inpatient care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megan Wilson<\/a> is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora statement today said the mental health wellbeing and recovery unit replaced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[57813,134,2241,3274,3267,1885,554,555,117,111,139,69,1864,2680,25816,1327,23934,8690,8443,239751,67016],"class_list":["post-574396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-addictions","tag-health","tag-hospital","tag-hospitals","tag-inpatient","tag-mental","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opened","tag-opens","tag-oranga","tag-rotorua","tag-tangata","tag-te","tag-unit","tag-whakaue","tag-whare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574396","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=574396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}