Northern Trust calls on minister to provide finance needed for new £143m mental health facility in Antrim
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has been urged to come up with the finance needed for the new £143m Birch Hill mental health facility at Bush Road in Antrim.
The planned development is at a standstill without confirmation of capital funding. The Trust has been due to receive the building for commission on December 31, 2029 which is already a delay.
Dr Petra Corr, divisional director of mental health, learning disability and community wellbeing, told a meeting of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust board, at Antrim Hospital, on Thursday: “There is a budget context of concern for us.”
Dr Corr indicated that the Trust has requested “enabling works” to be carried out on-site in a bid to be ready to progress the development if funding is made available by the Department of Health.
“The minister has continued to voice his support for the mental health service and we would be keen to see that carried through in actions,” she added.
Planning permission for Birch Hill Mental Health Centre was approved by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council last June. At the time, it was expected to be completed by late 2028.
A 134-bed development is being planned by the Trust to replace the existing Holywell Hospital, a mental health facility, in the town. The proposed new facility will also replace the Ross Thomson Unit, an 18-bed acute admission ward at Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.
The planned construction will comprise treatment wards, staff and visitor facilities, management and operational spaces, health and well-being facilities, external landscaping and gardens, car parking and servicing facilities.
Ground-floor en-suite rooms for patients have been designed to give direct access to safe outdoor space and facilitate ease of movement between departments. Links to nature and views towards the neighbouring countryside have been prioritised, to ensure the best possible environment to support recovery.
No decision has been taken yet on the future of the Holywell Hospital premises which accommodate up to 400 staff members. It is a listed building which the Trust has a responsibility to maintain.
Holywell Hospital was built in 1898 to accommodate 1,000 patients with three ‘Tobernaveen’ wards opening in the 1950s. Holywell Hospital has approximately 116 acute in-patient beds.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter