Local dignitaries this week attended the ground-breaking ceremony for our new north west mental health hospital.
The event marked the start of the construction of the hospital, on the former Abraham Cowley Unit site, and was attended by Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux, the Mayor of Runnymede, Councillor Margaret Harnden, and Dr Ben Spencer MP for Runnymede and Weybridge. Representatives from system partners including Surrey Heartlands Intergrated Care Board and Surrey County Council, and NHSE were also at the ceremony which took place on Monday 21 November.
Speaking at the event, our Chief Executive, Graham Wareham said: “Building a brand-new hospital on this site has been part of the Trust’s strategic plan for many years, and it has taken considerable hard work, effort, and dedication from many people to reach this point. We want our inpatient services to provide the very best in mental health care for our local communities and building this new hospital will help us to achieve that.”
Construction is due to finish in spring 2024. The new hospital will provide four brand new wards (64 beds in total), all with single ensuite bedrooms to provide greater privacy and dignity for people using our services. There will be a variety of dedicated spaces tailored to the clinical needs of the ward, including activity, therapy, and sensory-type calm rooms. There will also be greater access to garden space, each ward will have a dedicated garden and there will be a woodland area for supervised walks.
For more information about the new hospital, is available on our website here.