Housing lack ‘halts patients’ discharge’

Press, 31 July 1989, Page 8

Housing lack ‘halts patients’ discharge’

PA Wellington Psychiatric patients assessed as suitable for discharge are being forced to stay in hospital because of a shortage of accommodation, community agencies say. Others are being readmitted when substandard or inappropriate housing undermines their ability to cope with life outside.

Community agencies in the Wellington region said the problem was bound to worsen as their local area health board moved patients out into the community. About 450 Porirua Hospital patients with chronic mental illnesses or disabilities were scheduled to be relocated over the next five years.

Dr John Crawshaw, the chairman of the Wellington Regional Psychiatrists’ Association, said there was a need for "everything from supervised halfway houses to single rooms.” “The most common difficulty is in providing supported accommodation, where someone is available to help make the adjustment back to living in the community. We could manage,a lot more people in the community if there was more of this type of housing,” he said. At times patients were kept in hospital

longer than was desirable because suitable housing was just not available. “There are also occasions where we need to admit or readmit people who we could have supported in the community in the right environment,” he said. “As economic conditions worsen, people are unable to find employment and accommodation becomes tighter so the group which is most marginal in terms of survival tends to get pushed into substandard accommodation. “They have less resources to handle stress,” said Dr Crawshaw. Voluntary agencies said the scope of the problem fluctuated, but would inevitably worsen. A Schizophrenia Fellowship co-ordina-tor, Ms Erica Hume, said suitable, affordable, and supported accommodation was essential if patients were to avoid the stresses which could cause readmission. Daytime activities and ready access to hospital staff at times of crisis were also needed, she said. “We talk about deinstitutionalisation and community care but it’s a fallacy. What we are really talking about is cutting hospital services and a community that would have more sympathy for a lost puppy.”