The mother of a patient at Hutt Hospital's Acute Mental Health Unit says that it is worrying that her son managed to escape the unit for a short time on Friday.
Lyn Copland's son suffers from bipolar disorder and psychosis, and was admitted to the Hutt Hospital's Acute Mental Health Unit under a compulsory treatment order a month ago.
Ms Copland says her son left the unit on his own accord on Friday afternoon but is now back.
The Hutt Valley District Health Board confirms the man left the unit without permission, but was safely returned a short time later.
Separately, the board also says there were no staffing problems that led to patients being sent home on Christmas Day.
Ms Copland has alleged that the unit released patients because there were not enough staff available to look after them.
But the board's chief executive Graham Dyer responds that they were allowed to go home out of Christmas goodwill.
Ms Copland says her son was sent home on Christmas day, despite continuing to be very unwell.
She says the other patients in the secure ward were also either released or sent to the open ward over Christmas.
Ms Copland also says that under-staffing also means that some patients are able to access recreational drugs.
She says her son is supposed to be under constant supervision, but he was given cannabis, or synthetic cannabis, while unsupervised during a visit to the open ward.
Ms Copland says she understands use of synthetic cannabis has been widespread in the open mental health ward.
Mr Dyer says the unit has no tolerance for non-prescription drugs.
He says patients do sometimes try to smuggle drugs into the unit, and the claim will be investigated.
But he says no evidence has come to light connecting this with Ms Copland's son.
