Work underway on new mental health facilities in Dorset

The new facilities, at Pebble Lodge, Bournemouth, and St Ann’s, Poole, will provide vital services for Dorset residents as demand for services grows.

Children who need psychiatric intensive care have to travel around 90 miles for treatment at present.

The new Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Pebble Lodge in Alumhurst Road will support people closer to home.

At St Ann’s Hospital in Haven Road, Poole, an adult PICU will be built, along with the refurbishment of current facilities, expanding mental health capacity for the county.

These are the first such facilities in Dorset and the site at Pebble Lodge will be the only NHS CAMHS PICU facility in the south west.

Two ceremonies on Friday marked the start of work on the projects in the government’s new hospital programme.

Dorset HealthCare chief executive Matthew Bryant and peers were joined by Lord Nicholas Markham CBE, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Care, during the ceremony in Bournemouth.

Mr Bryant said it was a ‘momentous day’ for the trust.

“At Dorset HealthCare we are absolutely passionate about mental health,” he said.

“What we’re seeking to do is promote the right conversations about mental health, and the delivery of outstanding mental health care, wherever people are. In the community, in home and in specialist settings of care. “This is such an important part of that.”

Professor Dawn Dawson, chief nursing officer at the trust, said the facility is a ‘massive step in the right direction’.

“At the moment, if a child is unwell and they need psychiatric intensive care they will have to go to a specialist unit, and there isn’t one locally. Children are going miles away from home,” Prof. Dawson said.

“Having a unit in Dorset will mean that local children will be able to get the care they need with the support of their loved ones and their families nearby.”

Helen Duncan-Jordan, head of children’s services, said: “This is a facility for the most psychiatrically unwell young people.

“We hope that because we are building it next to our general adolescent unit, that people will be able to be treated quickly and be able to be stepped down.

“It’s part of a stepped process of care, which will be really important, so young people won’t have to spend long periods of time in a restricted environment, only the time that they really need it.”

Speaking about the development at St Ann’s, Prof Dawson said: “We need to provide modern healthcare in an environment that’s fit for what we need today. People having individual rooms that they can be cared in so that they get privacy and dignity, that will allow us to do that.”

She added: “There’s been a huge increase in demand, both for children’s services and adult services, and so these new facilities will enable us to provide modern healthcare in really state-of-the-art buildings that will help people recover and get on with the rest of their lives.”

Lord Markham said he was ‘thrilled’ to be a part of the ceremony.

“I think many of you will know that this is an area very close to my heart, because of family experience,” he said.

“I know how challenging the whole mental health space is, particularly as we recover from Covid.

“These are the fun parts of the job, being able to come here today and see what this is going to be, in terms of a fantastic facility.

“[It’s] really important to enable young people to have great services close to their home, with the support of their family nearby, which we know is vital to recovering and getting well.”

Planning permission has been granted by BCP Council for work to commence in the new year.