The Waikato DHB has rejected a coroners recommendation that a Hamilton medical facility tighten its security after a patient escaped to bludgeon her neighbour to death.

In January 2010 Christine Morris scaled a fence at the Henry Bennett Centre to kill Diane White with a hammer in her Franton home.

Despite announcing she was going to kill Mrs White, nurses couldn't stop Morris leaving as she was a voluntary patient.

Coroner JP Ryan says his proposal to modify the wall to stop patients climbing over it was rejected by the DHB because it would bring the courtyard uncomfortably close to a restrained area.

The Board says this in line with the prevailing view of mental health in New Zealand - that patients in a psychiatric unit be treated in the least restrictive environment.