Green light for major new Mental Health Facility In Manchester

A new £105.9m specialist mental health unit in Manchester has been given approval by the Government.

The Mental Health Unit will replace Park House, the hospital’s existing mental health inpatient unit which provides assessment and treatment for adults and older people with mental health needs – including schizophrenia, psychosis, dementia, and depression.

Park House was criticised by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission after an unannounced visit last December after concerns were made about the safety of patients on Elm Ward.

This new facility will be a state-of-the-art unit that will include 150 single bedrooms with private en-suite bathrooms over nine single-sex wards – including a purpose-built psychiatric intensive care unit, seven adult acute wards and one older adult’s ward. There will be an assessment suite, indoor activity space and outside garden space.

This comes alongside recent news that the NHS is seeing a significant increase in its resources even before the typical winter demand season, with ambulance services already on high alert.