Our client, Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundations Trust, has commissioned the design and build of a new Child Adolescent Mental Health Services and Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (CAMHS PICU) on the site of the existing Alumhurst Road site in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Challenge
Help tackle an issue with mental health facilities
To address the current lack of Mental Health Intensive Facilities in Bournemouth. There is a recognised shortage of CAMHS PICU beds in the south of the country. This means young people from Dorset are being sent out of the area for care – on average 91 miles away from home.
Solution
A state of the art development
To create a new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for 12–18-year-olds who are seriously unwell.
This development provides 8 Intensive Care Bedrooms to cut down the waiting times for admissions or transfer from eight to six weeks, and patient recovery time reduced from 103 to 75 days by 2025, for young people in Dorset and the surrounding areas.
The new building is predominantly single storey, with a plant room at lower ground floor level, taking advantage of the sloping nature of the existing site, and a limited area at first floor level. It is envisaged that the structure will predominantly be a traditional load-bearing masonry building with precast concrete units at ground floor level and timber joists to create the flat roof. This new facility will be located near to the historic Grade II Listed Herbert Hospital, which was built between 1865 to 1867 and was largely based upon the designs of Florence Nightingale
- Categories Healthcare
