Seven suspected suicides of people under the care of mental health services were reported last year by the MidCentral District Health Board.
The suspected suicides and one event of serious adverse behaviour were reported in the national director of mental health's annual report released last week. The report showed MidCentral was generally on par with other district health boards in serious events, the number of people under care, as well as the use of the Mental Health Act.
MidCentral recorded higher than average usage of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is a therapeutic procedure in which a brief pulse of electricity is delivered to a person's brain in order to produce a seizure to treat various mental illnesses, and higher than average rates of seclusion.
MidCentral's specialist community and regional services operations director Nicholas Glubb said overall the results were consistent with other DHBs.
"We will take time to consider this report as we plan further improvements to our mental health services," he said.
"We are already strengthening our review and service improvement processes in line with our overall approach to improve our service. The suspected suicide events from July to December 2013 have already been included in our retrospective review of events as part of that formal process."
He said the rates of use of ECT were slightly higher than the national average and most probably reflected clinical decision-making.
"The numbers receiving ECT are relatively small and use can fluctuate based on the needs of a small number of very unwell patients," he said.
"We wish to reduce the use of seclusion over time, consistent with that as a national priority for mental healthcare. This will be strengthened as part of our ongoing service development work."
He said MidCentral's use of the Mental Health Act was in line with other DHBs and reflected that where appropriate patients were getting access to assessment and treatment under those provisions.
He said while the DHB was close to the target for the number of patients with relapse prevention plans in place, they still hoped to achieve the target, and had other improvements in sight.
"Having a relapse prevention plan is very helpful for patients and their families to better manage chronic mental illness. We aim to minimise the use of seclusion in the longer term, and would like to see our seclusion rates drop below the national average. This will be a challenge as every DHB is working to reduce the use of seclusion."
He said he was confident they were under way with real improvements in the safety and effectiveness of the service. "As Dr [Syed] Ahmer, clinical director, has commented recently, these are significant changes and they will take time."
- Manawatu Standard
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