Five homicides within 15 months involving acutely unwell mental health patients have led to an overhaul of Wellington health systems following a critical review. The review highlighted chilling missteps, including what it terms a "tragic failure of technology", when a GP's alert to a patient's mental state slipped through the cracks. It also highlighted problems around decision-making over when to admit acutely unwell patients into compulsory care. The review was ordered last year after a spate of killings by different mental health patients over 15 month in 2015 and 2016, including the killing of Kapiti nurse Cathy Stewart. At the time of the review, two of the mental health patients had been found not guilty of homicide on the grounds of insanity, one found guilty of murder, and two were yet to come to trial.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 26, 2017 06:32 UTC