Moving psychiatric patients to 'mothballed' Waterford deemed unacceptable

A mental health advocate says patients from the psychiatric unit at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's should not have to live in an unused section of the Waterford Hospital.

Eastern Health shut down the HSC ward on Thursday after water was found to be dripping down from a ceiling. The authority plans to move those patients into the vacant area of the Waterford until repairs are made.

However, Mark Gruchy, a lawyer who volunteers with the Community Coalition for Mental Health, says the Waterford unit that will accommodate the patients is simply not acceptable.

"I don't know how long that's been mothballed," he said.

"Those units are not supposed to be opening up, they're supposed to be closing down along with the rest of the [Waterford] hospital," he told CBC News.

Gruchy said moving patients with psychiatric problems into a dilapidated building that has such a bad reputation as the Waterford is unhealthy for them on a physical and mental level.

Further to that, he feels little is being done to prevent these kinds of situations, as he as lobbied for years to get more permanent repairs made to the psychiatric department at the HSC.

"It's very upsetting because what it shows you is Band-Aid solutions to problems that should really not be happening," he said.

"The absence of hot water at a facility like this is leading to escalations and discoveries of further rot in the system —  which is a real wake-up call that everyone heard about 11 years ago, including the PCs. They said they were going to fix the problem, and they haven't."

While he accepts that there is no immediate option for the patients other than moving to the Waterford, he believes it's time for a more permanent fix.

"That long term solution needs to be implemented right now," he said.

"It's not a culvert, it's not a guardrail — it's a home, and we need to make sure it's fit for people to live in."