More private rooms on unit mental health ward
MORE patients will get private rooms at a hospital for mental health when a £9 million rebuilding project is completed.
The Thornton Ward at the Bradgate Mental Health Unit, in Leicester, is the latest ward to be converted to single room accommodation, achieving more privacy for the patients.
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) runs the unit, which is on the Glenfield Hospital site.
The Thornton Ward will be the third to undergo the transformation and it is hoped the changes will be good for patients’ recovery.
The ward, first built in the 1980s, was originally made up of rooms with four beds per room. The rebuild will provide 12 en suite rooms providing privacy and also more personal storage space for the patients.
Standards for mental health care have changed since the ward first opened, and the rules now require each person on the unit to have their own bedroom and bathroom.
Dr Avinash Hiremath, LPT’s medical director, said: “We are committed to eliminating dormitory and shared sleeping accommodation to give better privacy and dignity to our patients.
“Whilst our regulators, the CQC, saw significant improvements in our services during their inspection earlier this year, they remain concerned, as do we, about aspects of our mental health estate and, in particular, our dormitory accommodation.
“We have had a robust capital programme in place since 2019 to address this.
“This remains a significant priority and, whilst it was affected by the Covid pandemic, we are continuing to implement our schedule.
“We have been successful in gaining national funding to eliminate dormitory accommodation.
“Two wards have been completed over the summer and this third ward reflects our rolling programme to complete the work at the remaining mental health wards.”
NHS TRUST COMMITTED TO ELIMINATING
DORMITORIES