Building for better care - Our new mental health inpatient services
Delivering high quality mental health care and treatment is fundamental to what we do as a Trust; we committed to develop three new mental health inpatient services in Guildford, Chertsey, and east Surrey because we want to provide the best in mental health care. Farnham Road Hospital, Guildford, opened in December 2015, and following its completion, our focus moved to the former Abraham Cowley Unit (ACU) site on the St. Peter’s Hospital campus, Chertsey and a third service to be provided in the east of the county. Here we share the latest programme updates.
Construction of new North West Mental Health Inpatient Service well underway
Construction of our new North West Mental Health Inpatient Service, on the former Abraham Cowley Unit site, is well underway. Groundwork excavations, drainage and concrete works are all progressing at pace. All of the foundations have been completed and the external structure started going up in March. We’ve set up a timelapse camera to capture daily footage of the construction, and you can see the latest footage here.
Recent images of the construction site for the new Mental Health Inpatient Service on St. Peter’s Hospital campus, Chertsey.
Using art to create a healing environment
Using art in healthcare settings is more than just decoration. Numerous studies have shown that art can have significant clinical outcomes, such as reducing anxiety and depression, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and calming aggressive behaviours.
To create an effective art strategy for our new service, we have planned a series of events to engage with people who use our services, families, carers and our colleagues. We believe that involving people who use our services and their families in the art strategy and selection process will ensure that the artwork resonates with them and helps to create a healing and nurturing environment.
Our art strategy is closely linked to the interior design of the new building, which features a nature-inspired theme of flowing rivers symbolizing the journey to recovery. The design focuses on holistic support, protection, and well-being to create an environment in which people feel safe and comfortable.
We are excited to collaborate with local artists to design and create the artwork. By involving the local community, we hope to create a sense of connection and pride in the new service.
Engaging with people who use our services
We held our latest Lived Experience Group event on 2 February. In this session, we explored the latest design changes and the use of the calm and seclusion suites.
For the new North West Mental Health Inpatient Service, we will now have one seclusion room rather than two. Seclusion is never the first option and is always used for the least amount of time when all other options have been tried. As a Trust, we strive to identify ways to reduce restrictive practice, and thanks to our efforts, we have been able to reduce the number of seclusion suites needed in the new building from two to one. The latest design of the building is now more trauma informed as the second seclusion room was located next to the therapies area.
Our next Lived Experience Group will be held on 22 May, 19:00 – 20:30, where we’ll discuss the new service’s art strategy and our approach for naming the wards and the building itself. We will also step through our review of the new NHS England draft inpatient guidance and what that means for the service.
View more information about future meetings and previous presentations.
Preparations underway to operationalise the new service
Preparations are already well underway to operationalise the new service. There are three key areas of focus – workforce planning, property, and the acute care pathway.
We recently held a series of workshops to agree the principles for the new operating model and what the model should look like. We now need to test the acute care pathways and the proposed staffing model against the new operating model to ensure they work well.
Help shape the names for the new building and its wards
We are inviting everyone who has used our mental health services, their families or carers, and anyone with an interest in mental health to help us name our new building and its four wards.
We’ve devised a short survey to help us shortlist the themes for the names and then later in the year, we’ll follow up with another survey asking people to choose from the shortlisted names.
Plans for our new mental health inpatient service in east Surrey
For our final service, to be located in East Surrey, we have agreed the proposed bed numbers, and earlier this year we held a workshop to look at the scheme options which will inform the Strategic Outline Case. The Strategic Outline Case provides a preliminary assessment of strategic fit, options, value for money, affordability, and achievability. We are currently reviewing the scheme options and conducting wider clinical engagement on these.
Contact us:
If you have any questions, you would like more information or to sign up for an event, please get in touch. You can contact the team at: newhospitals@sabp.nhs.uk