Harmful bacteria found in new $162m Mason Clinic unit, Health NZ says

Patients are yet to be moved into the new 60-bed capacity E Tū Wairua Hinengaro unit at the Mason Clinic in Point Chevalier.

The discovery of harmful bacteria in the pipes of the new $162 million Mason Clinic unit is delaying the transfer of mental health patients from leaky, ageing buildings.

The strand of bacteria, Legionella, is often found in aquatic environments or soil in New Zealand and can cause a serious type of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease.

The Mason Clinic, in Auckland’s Point Chevalier, mainly houses people who have been acquitted of serious crimes on the grounds of insanity or people who had been deemed unfit to stand trial. These people receive mental health treatment at the facility and are kept in high-security conditions.

In February, the new $162m E Tū Wairua Hinengaro unit with a 60-bed capacity was opened to replace ageing buildings that have air quality issues and weather-tightness issues.

At the time, Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said the first patients would begin to be moved across from the old facility that same month.

Now, because of the discovery of bacteria in the hydraulic system, the relocation of patients will not take place until later in May and is reliant on clearance and positive lab results.

Health NZ group director of operations for Waitematā, Brad Healey, said the presence of the bacteria was identified through routine water testing.

“Patients are currently being accommodated in the existing units, which remain safe to operate,” he said.

Healey said the current buildings patients were being housed in were no longer fit for purpose as “modern clinical environments” but were safe and maintained for use, and where building leaks occurred, these were dealt with through maintenance action.

It could take time to get levels in the new facility down to the standard required for safe occupation.

Healey said the bacteria’s discovery was not “entirely unexpected” and could occur in recently constructed buildings, particularly where water had remained in pipework following construction.

Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the discovery of the bacteria was “deeply concerning” and Health NZ should undertake a thorough investigation.

“Staff and patients have been waiting to move into the new facility since February, it’s a frustrating delay for an important much-needed facility.”

When the new facility was being opened in February, the Weekend Herald reported on the PSA’s concerns that it would be understaffed and recruitment was lagging to fill mental health nurse roles.

Fitzsimons said this remained a problem and existing staff were facing unmanageable workloads, resulting in fatigue and burnout.

The PSA was not ruling out taking legal action if the matter was not urgently addressed by Health NZ, she said.

Healey said 35 fulltime-equivalent (FTE) staff had already started work in the service, eight FTE staff were expected to start this month and a further 4.3 FTE staff were going through recruitment.

Health NZ was continuing to recruit for a further 9.7 FTE staff, Healey said.

A staged opening of E Tū Wairua Hinengaro had always been planned to ensure a smooth transition for patients and staff, he said.

The Weekend Herald recently reported on prisoners spending months on wait lists for mental health treatment because of a strain on high-security forensic facilities.

There were 182 people placed on a wait list for acute inpatient mental health facilities last year, with the length of time each prisoner spent on the wait list ranging from one day to as long as 167 days, official data showed.

The New Zealand Branch of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists faculty of forensic psychiatry chairman, Dr James Cavney, said this was inequitable and “potentially a breach of their human rights”.

The new E Tū Wairua Hinengaro unit did not increase bed capacity for the forensic service, meaning even when patients are eventually moved across, there will still be a wait list operating for prisoners needing acute mental health care treatment.

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