Wakari Hospital is a psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 located in Dunedin, New Zealand.

It is situated in the suburb of Wakari

Wakari

Wakari is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, immediately to the west of the ridge which runs to the west of the city's centre. Wakari lies to the north of the upper reaches of the Kaikorai Valley, and is also north of the...

, about three kilometres north-west of the city centre. The hospital is operated by the Southern District Health Board (formerly Otago District Health Board) and is closely associated with Dunedin Public Hospital

Dunedin Public Hospital

Dunedin Hospital is the main public hospital in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is the largest hospital south of Christchurch and serves as the major hospital for the Otago and Southland regions...

.

It contains specialised psychiatric services but also cares for people with intellectual disability and people undergoing physical rehabilitation. It has units for forensic psychiatry

Forensic psychiatry

Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and an auxiliar science of criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry...

, psychiatric emergency services, long- and short-term secure psychiatric units, Māori mental health, physical rehabilitation

Physical medicine and rehabilitation

Physical medicine and rehabilitation , physiatry or rehabilitation medicine, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician having completed training in this field is referred to as a...

 and increasingly community out-reach services such as public health and district nursing.

History

From 1915 the site was initially an infectious diseases centre, and later a sanatorium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

. In 1957 it was redeveloped as a general hospital, serving as the main Otago hospital while the Dunedin Hospital was being redeveloped in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Nurses' home was leased to the University for use as a student hostel, this being taken back with the closure of the Cherry Farm Hospital in 1992.

Changing Uses

Wakari continued as a geriatric and psychiatric care facility, the geriatric wards gradually being wound down through the nineties with government reforms to privatise long-term care. The care of the elderly assessment and rehabilitation wards were transferred back to Dunedin Hospital. Attempts were made to sell the main block of the hospital, which found occasional use as a facility for live-in drug trials and even a temporary accommodation during important rugby tests.

Current Directions

Currently the main block is being redeveloped to house a variety of out-reach services such as Public Health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

 and District Nursing, moving out of expensive leased premises and centralising in properties the Otago District Health Board already owns. Continuing consideration is being given to whether all the site needs to be retained and it has been proposed that some more land be sold to Leslie Groves Hospital.