Youth care unit opens

Press, 16 September 1987, Page 2

Youth care unit opens

Sunnyside Hospital has a new adolescent care unit but a badly needed adolescent out-patient service will have to wait

The medical superintendent of Sunnyside Hospital, Dr Les Ding, said the new unit had 10 beds, day-care facilities for 15 to 20 people, and facilities for out-patients. It will be formally handed to the North Canterbury Hospital Board later this month. “The staff we have in the existing unit are going into the new unit and will be just adequate to cope with the in-patients,” said Dr Ding. “However, with existing resources I can’t quite see how we can utilise the

day hospital and we are certainly in no position to provide an out-patient service which is really pretty badly needed.” The existing unit had only nine beds and almost no day-care or out-patient facilities, said Dr Ding. “Our ultimate goal is to provide a more comprehensive service — we want to use the beds as efficiently as possible and only when required, and use the day-care facilities as much as possible.” Better access for people in the community was

another aim, he said. “We want to have it accessible to school counsellors, social workers attached to other institutions, and anyone else who wants to talk over the problems of an adolescent with someone.” The adolescent care unit was established in 1974 from existing resources, said Dr Ding. It takes youths, aged about 14 to 18, with a wide range of psychiatric illnesses including depression, anxiety, and behaviour disturbances.

“It’s really carved a place for itself in the back of an old ward,” Dr Ding said.

than an adult ward because adolescents were more active, said Dr Ding.

“It’s running on a shoestring budget in terms of nursing input, social workers, resources, and occupational therapy — when it moves into the new building, it will still be on a shoe-string.

“Activities and recreation are an important aspect of the support the adolescents get while receiving treatment Adolescents in the unit do gymnastics, go swimming, horse-riding, and on ski trips and other outings.” Dr Ding said an adolescent care unit was essential because adolescents felt more comfortable receiving treatment with others their own age.

“How we can achieve (the aims) we have for the unit I don’t know because we have not got the staff.”

The adolescent care unit required more staff