DHB Member to ask Waikato DHB to change non-smoking rule for DHB mental health

Waikato DHB elected member Dave Macpherson is to ask the DHB Board meeting tomorrow to consider changing its rigid non-smoking policy at Waikato Hospital's Henry Bennett mental health facility.

Such a policy change could have implications for almost identical policies operating in other DHBs around the country.

All DHBs have non-smoking policies, enforcing complete bans on smoking anywhere in their hospital facilities and grounds.

Most DHBs have secure outdoor courtyards within their mental health units that were originally used to allow vulnerable mental health patients to smoke outdoors while keeping safe, and under observation. Waikato's Henry Bennett Centre has three such courtyards, Palmerston North Hospital's mental health unit has two.

Two weeks ago, a young Palmerston North woman was found dead after leaving the city Hospital's mental health unit unsupervised for a smoke break.

Two years ago Mr Macpherson's son, Nicky Stevens, died after leaving the Henry Bennett Centre on an unsupervised smoke break, despite being a high risk of suicide, and being in the facility as a compulsory patient.

Mr Macpherson, who describes himself as a 'long-time anti-smoker', said "when someone is acutely unwell; in other words ill enough to be admitted to a residential mental health facility; then it is wrong to require those who also have a smoking addiction problem to go out on the streets unsupervised to have a cigarette."

"The potential outcome is obvious."

"Each of these facilities could easily, at little or no cost, vary their anti-smoking policies to allow patients in secure wards to smoke in the nearby secure courtyards."

"However, PC policies that take no regard of the greater and more immediate danger to mental health patients, have contributed to the death of patients. Other patients have gone missing, or been injured, as a result of this sort of policy."

Macpherson acknowledged that most residential mental health units offered patients information and materials to help them quit smoking.

"But when someone is acutely mentally unwell, probably the last thing on their mind - and it should be the last thing on the minds of staff - is to add to their stress by pushing them to give up smoking.

"Since the entire mental health service is under-resourced at the moment, units like Henry Bennett don't have the staff to supervise patients sent outside to smoke, so they should be able to use the facilities already in place," he said.

Mr Macpherson pointed out that staff raised concerns about the blanket non-smoking policy when it was first put in place.

The meeting is at Waikato Hospital's Hockin Building, starting at 1.30pm. The smoking item will come up in the CEO's report early in the meeting.

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