Union takes health authorities to court over forensic mental health unit understaffing

The union representing mental health nurses at Auckland's secure forensic unit is taking health authorities to the Employment Relations Authority over what it calls understaffing that amounts to a "dangerous gamble".

The Public Service Association (PSA) represents mental health nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and security guards at the Mason Clinic and said as of late Septemebr there were 35 roles vacant, some since 2025.

National secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said that was in breach of two collective agreements which required Health New Zealand to fill the roles as soon as practically possible. She said its failure to do so was putting both staff and the public in danger.

"The Mason Clinic cares for people with serious mental illness who have been charged with or convicted of serious offences. You cannot do that work safely with dozens of roles left empty."

Fitzsimons said the roles were not being filled because of a Government funding freeze.

"We've raised this repeatedly since March. Staff told us in July they were at breaking point. When we wrote again in September, Health NZ didn't reply until we chased it a month later."

She said short-staffing was putting pressure on nurses, psychologists and other staff.

"It is not limited to the Mason Clinic and the problem is being aggravated by internal transfers of staff to other mental health units creating vacancies that leave other units short staffed."

Health New Zealand operations director Brad Healey said it was "engaging" with the PSA.

"We are confident in the quality and safety of the care being delivered at the Mason Clinic and patient and staff safety is always our highest priority."

He said while there were vacancies, it was working to cover the roster through overtime and casual staff.

When asked if there were still 35 vacancies and whether the clinic had capped the number of patients due to staffing levels, a Health NZ spokesperson said it was updating workforce data and didn't want to publish numbers that could change.