Mental Health Service Older Persons (MHSOP) Community Services

Programme Areas

Mental health

Programme Type

Non-acute specialist mental health community services

Regions

Wellington, Hutt

Age Groups

Older adult / Kaumātua

Referral Types

GP, DHB clinical services

Referral Process

Referrals for an initial assessment in the community are usually facilitated by a person’s GP through either the Care Coordination Centre (the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination agency run by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley by the Nurse Maude organisation).

Description

The Mental Health Service Older Persons (MHSOP) is predominantly a community based service.

The MHSOP provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation to:

• Older people with recent onset psychiatric illness 
• People with complex behavioural and psychological difficulties associated with dementia where a short-stay in an acute hospital environment is required for assessment of ongoing needs.

It is important that the person’s physical health has been considered and that delirium or other medical illnesses have been managed or excluded.

There are some people referred with complex physical and mental health needs where co-management across more than one specialty service may be needed. The Mental Health Service Older Persons service works in close collaboration with other service providers to identify the best ways of achieving this.

The Mental Health Service Older Persons (MHSOP) is located at Te Whare Ra Uta on the Kenepuru Community Hospital campus.