30 bed Gransha unit is future of NW care

HEALTH bosses believe the provision of 30 adult psychiatric beds at the new £10m Gransha hospital due to open in July is the way forward for mental health in Londonderry.

Gransha Hospital currently has two 20 bed single sex wards providing inpatient mental health care for people untreatable in a community setting.

The complex was once home to over 500 people with mental health problems.

Now the Western Trust has confirmed the new unit is the preferred option for adult mental health provision in the North West.

The move does not conflict with a recent health review proposal to close all long-stay psychiatric institutions across Northern Ireland by 2015.

A Western Trust spokesperson said: “Following a request by the Health Social Care Board (HSCB), the Western Health and Social Care Trust undertook a review of the future requirements of Acute Mental Health provision in the Western area.

“The outcome of the review was reported at the April 2012 Trust Board meeting on April 5, 2012.

“The Western Trust has put forward a preferred option to the HSCB for the future provision of the service.

“The Trust’s preferred option is the provision of 30 acute mental health beds on the Gransha site , Londonderry and a further 26 acute mental health beds on the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital site, Omagh.

“The option is currently with the HSCB for their consideration as part of regional review of acute mental health services across Northern Ireland.”

The new hospital is due to open in July. Last September the Trust’s Chief Executive Elaine Way said pressure on acute admission beds, particularly male beds at Gransha Hospital was ongoing.

A Trust board meeting heard how “there was pressure on acute beds at Gransha where the average occupancy rate was 104 per cent compared to an average occupancy rate in the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital.”

The replacement unit will include 30 in-patient beds; a 25 place acute day care facility; a 24 hour/7 days a week crisis team; and an eight bed community crisis house.

In December the publication of the review of health and social care by Health Minister Edwin Poots recommended that all long-stay institutions in Northern Ireland be closed by 2015 with more impetus on developing community services.

A Trust spokesperson said then that the proposal was in line with its plans for mental health provision and its plans to build the new £10m Gransha unit.

A spokesperson told the paper people suffering psychoses will get the care they need at the new unit should they require it.

“Anyone who requires to be admitted due to their condition to an assessment and treatment hospital will be accommodated accordingly. Those that can be managed within the community will be in receipt of a community care package that will meet their needs,” the spokesperson stated.