Just five extra acute mental health beds after $1.9 billion investment in Budget 2019

Newshub can reveal just five extra acute mental health beds have been added as a result of the Government's much-lauded record mental health investment. 

Newshub has spoken to one patient forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor of a communal lounge because there were no mental health beds left. 

Kiana has a history with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bulimia nervosa. She's been dealing with our broken mental health system for six years.

"There aren't enough services, there aren't enough people, places are understaffed, underfunded," she told Newshub. 

She advocates for better care and documents her mental health journey on social media. Last Thursday she went to an acute mental health unit in Taranaki in a distressed state.

"I'm sleeping in a lounge because there's no more rooms," she shared in a video. 

There are 23 beds in the Te Puna Waiora unit in Taranaki. But when Kiana arrived, nothing was free. 

"Here is my bed - a mattress on the f***ing floor," Kiana says in the video. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she doesn't think that's acceptable. 

"No, no I don't," she said on Monday afternoon. 

But it's happening under her watch.

"It's really dehumanising and it kind of makes you feel a bit more worthless even though I already felt worthless... it kind of added to that," Kiana told Newshub. 

Kiana doesn't blame the staff - she blames the system. It's broken.  

In Budget 2019 the Government announced $1.9 billion for mental health - $235 million of that was allocated to building mental health and addiction facilities. 

The Ministry of Health told Newshub that almost all of it has been committed but they couldn't say how much had been spent.

"I don't know where that money's gone but from a person in the community and a patient, I don't see it at all," says Kiana. 

The Prime Minister couldn't say on The AM Show on Monday morning how many extra beds that record investment created for acute youth. 

"That's not something that I can share with you right off the bat," she said. 

But Newshub can reveal the grand total of new acute mental health beds is just five. 

"On crisis services, undeniably we need to build more capacity - undeniably," Ardern told The AM Show. 

"There are beds - there are not enough beds... and they're not in the right places too. Too many young people need to move as well."

Kiana has a warning for the Government: "If they keep ignoring this, the pandemic of suicide and mental health in New Zealand is just going to get bigger."

In a statement to Newshub, Taranaki District Health Board said Te Puna Waiora has averaged 99 percent occupancy this year. It has been given $8 million to upgrade. 

Acute crisis services are critical - they save lives and despite the Government celebrating its Budget boost, the services still aren't getting the resources they need.