Hospital to create 90 more beds
EXPANSION PLANS FOR MENTAL HEALTH UNIT TO COMBAT ‘OUT-OF-AREA’ PATIENT PLACEMENTS
PLANS to expand a mental health hospital in Stockport, creating beds for 90 more patients, have been submitted to council bosses.
The Priory Hospital hopes to build a new 60-bed unit, along with a 30-bed unit, at its facility in Cheadle.
According to planning documents, which were presented to Stockport council this month, the larger of the two buildings would be for young people suffering from mental ill-heath, with the smaller one housing a dedicated female unit.
It is no secret that Greater Manchester has a shortage of mental health beds.
NHS data published this summer revealed that more than 400 patients in the region with acute needs were subject to ‘out-of-area’ placements from last October to the end of June this year. Ten of those placements were almost 200 miles away, and 85 lasted for more than 30 days.
Figures show that on average, it costs £600 a day to place an acute mental health patient in a bed outside their local network, meaning that Greater Manchester’s NHS forked out £5.9m on out-of-area services in those nine months.
The main reason for sending a patient outside of the region was down to a lack of beds, with NHS digital recording those cases as ‘inappropriate’ out-of-area placements. In a statement, The Priory said the expansion would help the existing site to ‘meet local need’ and hoped it would mean more people could be treated closer to home.
A spokesman also added that work on a new 10-bed unit was already underway. The spokesman said: “We’re exploring the possibility of expanding the hospital within its existing site to meet local need, and ensure more patients can be treated nearer their home, but are unable to comment further at this early stage.
“Separately, however, we are currently building a 10-bed unit to meet the need of female patients in the north west with mental health issues, and this is due to open at the end of next year (2018).”
Consultation on the plans is due to end mid-December, with a final decision expected in February.