The Star: April 13, 2017

14 Thursday April 13 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
The Star
News
Sex worker
dispute could
go to court
• By Andrew King
A DISPUTE over sex workers
being able to solicit in a
residential area could be tested in
the courts, a Christchurch lawyer
said.
St Albans resident Matt Bonis,
along with solicitor and Labour
candidate for Christchurch
Central Duncan Webb presented
a slide show to the city council
detailing the rubbish, abuse,
complaints and threats they have
received.
Mr Webb told Star.kiwi the
dispute lies in the definition of
“commercial activity” set out
in the city council public places
bylaw.
City council head of strategic
policy Helen Beaumont said sex
workers do not use the billboards
and banners that are typical of
other business enterprises.
But Mr Webb said they have
got the definition “wrong” and
the city council could enforce the
bylaw.
He said if it comes down to
residents saying it is commercial
activity, and the city council says
it isn’t, then it will have to be
tested in the courts.
Fighting patients test health staff
• By Gabrielle Stuart
MENTAL HEALTH staff say
they are struggling to control
fighting between patients in
their wards.
It comes as 775 assaults on
Canterbury District Health
Board staff were
reported last year,
an average of two a
day, including 236
assaults at Hillmorton
Hospital.
Toni
Gutschlag
The demand
for mental health
services has also
grown, with the acute inpatient
ward almost constantly full in
January and February.
Speaking at a CDHB committee
meeting last week, specialist
mental health services general
manager Toni Gutschlag said
the situation was becoming
“volatile.”
She said an “escalation meeting”
had been planned with the
Ministry of Health this week to
discuss the problem.
“Right now we’ve got major
dynamics where patients are
not getting on, and seeking one
another out to harm each other,”
she said.
She said that was made more
difficult because the mental
health wards were small and
were at full capacity most of the
time.
That made it very difficult to
separate violent patients, she
said.
“If they don’t have enough
space to get away from each
other, the situation becomes
more volatile,” she said.
She said mental health services
were also struggling to recruit
staff, and had “a number of
vacancies and workforce gaps.”
Last month, New Zealand
Nurses Organisation chief executive
Memo Musa raised concerns
that inexperienced staff
were being placed in situations
“they are not able to handle”
because funding was inadequate
and senior staff had left.
Mental health problems seem
to have particularly grown for
Canterbury children and youth,
with the number of new cases
up 55 per cent over the past
three years.
The number of Canterbury
children or youth accessing
mental health services grew
from 626 in January to 714 in
February.
The situation was made
worse by a number of people
with disabilities being
“inappropriately placed” in
mental health services because
there were no community
disability services appropriate
for them, a report on the issue
said.
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