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Christchurch mental health services that were stranded in an abandoned and earthquake-damaged hospital building for nearly a decade will move to new buildings in November 2022.
The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) announced Monday the appointment of a prime contractor, Leighs Construction, for the $ 81.8 million project to build the two facilities on the Hillmorton campus.
Construction will begin in January.
Supplied / Stuff
Artist impression of the new high and complex needs unit on CDHB’s Hillmorton campus.
Treatment for Christchurch patients with acute mental health disorders, eating disorders and severe postpartum depression requiring hospitalization has thus far been provided at Princess Margaret Hospital (TPMH).
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Services were left out of a 2012 business case for the redevelopment of CDHB’s facilities after the earthquake, Things reported in 2016.
CDHB Acting Executive Director Andrew Brant said the appointment of the prime contractor was the first major development on the Hillmorton campus for the long-term master plan for mental health facilities.
A comprehensive family services center will house a 13-bed maternal and infant facility, inpatient and outpatient eating disorder units, and a 16-bed child and family inpatient unit.
Supplied / Stuff
The Integrated Family Services Center building will provide mental health services on the Hillmorton campus.
The building will have a modern therapeutic environment with centralized courtyards, individual rooms and flexible spaces.
There will also be a 16-bed high and complex needs unit to serve acute mentally ill patients currently at the Seager Clinic at TPMH, which Brant said will have a “welcoming, warm and homey environment.”
“The unit is designed to enhance the privacy and dignity of patients with a variety of spaces for patient, family and staff use.”
Leighs Construction has been designated for previous CDHB projects, including the five-story outpatient building on Oxford Terrace and the Burwood Hospital renovations.
John Kirk-Anderson / Stuff
The $ 81.8 million project will provide facilities for services that have been stagnant in the earthquake-damaged Princess Margaret Hospital building for the past decade.
“The Leighs team is proud to have been entrusted with another major Canterbury DHB health project and is eager to deliver these projects that will make a difference for people seeking treatment, care and support from specialized mental health teams.” Managing Director Anthony said Leighs said.
In 2016, the former general manager of CDHB mental health services, Toni Gutschlag, said that everyone agreed that the Seager building was “not appropriate” but that the alternative was “much worse.”
“We continue to use substandard facilities to provide services or we stop providing services.”
IAIN MCGREGOR / Stuff
The acute mental health patient facilities at the Seager Clinic have long been recognized as lacking. (File photo)
In September 2017, former national government health minister Jonathan Coleman announced that a new specialty mental health center would be built for stranded services within three years.
A document delivered to Things in 2018 revealed a litany of problems in patient care attributable to the poor condition of the TPMH building.
These included increased use of seclusion rooms or adult rooms for infant patients because there was no space to safely care for them separately.
There was also a “significant risk” in the event of another major earthquake unless the surrounding buildings were demolished, and around 600 incidents of escape, assault and self-harm each year.
Last year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former Health Minister David Clark announced the approval of $ 79 million for two new buildings on the Hillmorton campus.
Documents released under the Official Information Law later revealed that the Ministry adopted the CDHB’s least favored business case due to funding constraints.
