Mental health services for older people — Nelson Marlborough
Specialist community service and inpatient unit for older people living with significant mental illness or cognitive decline.
Older Persons' Mental Health community team
The Older Persons' Mental Health (OPMH) community team provide a specialist service that offers consultation and assessment, and coordinates care for:
- older people living with significant mental illness or cognitive
- decline and associated challenging behaviours
- age related physical health issues.
This service is available at:
- Alexandra Hospital in Richmond
- Wairau Hospital in Blenheim.
Older Persons' Mental Health Admission Unit
The Older Persons Mental Health Admission Unit provides treatment for older people with acute inpatient assessment needs related to dementia and mental health decline who cannot be treated in the community and require a short period of time in inpatient care.
This service is available at Alexandra Hospital in Richmond.
Location information
Nelson Older Persons Community Mental Health Team
Alexandra Hospital
5 Alexandra Grove
Richmond 7020
Phone: 03 539 3920
Blenheim Older Persons Community Mental Health Team
Wairau Hospital
42 Hospital Road
Blenheim 7201
Phone: 03 520 999
Visiting hours
- 3pm to 8:30pm (or by arrangement), Monday to Friday
- 10:30am to 8:30pm (or by arrangement), weekends and public holidays
Referral information
Referrals to the Older Persons' Mental Health team need to be completed by your healthcare provider.
People eligible for referral are:
- older people with significant mental health problems
- adults with an established diagnosis of dementia (Alzheimer's, vascular, mixed or idiopathic front temporal dementia type) complicated by significant behavioural or psychological symptoms.