Bay needs its own drug rehab options, say candidates

Candidates Rusty Kane, speaking, (then left to right) Todd Muller, Angie Warren-Clark, Emma-Leigh Hodge, Verna Ohia-Gate, and Lester Gray. Photo/Samantha Motion

An election debate has sparked renewed calls for Tauranga's own residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation options.

At a mental health and housing election debate on Wednesday night, both National's Todd Muller and Labour's Angie Warren-Clark threw their support behind the issue.

Both pointed to the population boom and prevalence of methamphetamine in the region as reasons to expand addiction services in the Western Bay.

The 20 or so attendees at the debate heard there was one detox bed in the Bay of Plenty for people needing inpatient care to recover from a severe addiction, located in Whakatane in the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit.

Ms Warren-Clark said that situation was "not good enough" for Tauranga. "The place our families detox is in a cell in this city."

She said she had friends who had to go to Auckland for rehab and it was hard for them to be away.

"I believe we need to have a rehabilitation service in the community. It means that we can visit and be around for our whanau and loved ones at a time they are coming off drugs or alcohol."

Todd Muller said addiction was a complex problem and there might be many ways to approach it.

"Having a residential facility would be useful. There needs to be more residential options in Tauranga and I will continue to strongly advocate for it."

The problems of addiction and rough sleeping sometimes intersected, and he said the Government's expansion of the Housing First programme to include up to 100 places in Tauranga may be part of the solution to both.

Vaughn Cruickshank, team lead of Junction Peer Support and Advocacy, which hosted the debate, supported the idea.

"I believe we're big enough as an area now to have a rehabilitation centre here."

Former addict Stephen King, who founded an addiction recovery house in Hamilton, raised the idea of bringing the "therapeutic community" model to Tauranga last year.

The house was a place where addicts could prepare to go into a rehab programme or transition from a programme back into the community.

He still thought the model would work in Tauranga and said it would be a cheaper first step towards residential care than a rehab centre.

Ngai Ranginui chief executive Steph O'Sullivan, who was among iwi leaders calling for a specialised P rehabilitation centre to be located in Tauranga last year, said it was still needed.

"There are not enough transition beds available. There's certainly a need for increased investment in that area."

Detoxing and the Bay
The Bay's only detox bed is at Whakatane Hospital, the Bay of Plenty District Health Board's mental health and addiction services business leader, Eileen Hughes, confirmed.

In the last financial year, the bed was occupied 67 per cent of the time.

"The detox bed is used primarily for people requiring a hospital setting with co-morbid medical issues that require increased medical oversight," Ms Hughes said.

She said most detoxing was carried out in community settings and most health boards did not have residential treatment.

"There are a number of specialised services available nationally, which DHBs utilise collectively. Consultation takes place between the clinician, individual and family/whanau about the most appropriate place to seek treatment."

The BOPDHB contracts its alcohol and other drugs services to providers in:

- Auckland
- Hamilton
- Rotorua
- Hawkes Bay
- Christchurch.

The DHB also had access to national methamphetamine beds located around the country.