Ancora House

What We Did

Located in Chester, the state of the art building provides CAMHS services across England, through inpatient and day patient care (Tier 4) for children and young people with severe and/or complex mental health conditions. 

Ancora House is a 2 storey, 26 bed facility that includes 4 specialist beds, day spaces, a central nurses station and a seclusion suite.  The building comes complete with an Ofsed 'outstanding' education centre, visiting areas and communal spaces, such as 'Activities of Daily Living (ADL)' amenities, an exercise room and multi-faith areas.   The external garden and landscaped areas complete with outdoor exercise equipment, are enclosed by the building, providing security and recreational facilities.

All those accessing the services have been instrumental to the project, taking part in a range of workshops from designing rooms, decorating a mock bedroom on site, to choosing the name ‘Ancora House’ for the building. ‘Ancora’ is a Latin noun meaning hope, refuge and support and describes the aims and objectives of the unit.

"This project will provide a state of the art child and adolescent mental health service unit. It will address the national agenda to provide increased mental health care and support for young people and we anticipate that it will become a best-practice facility, benefiting from the latest green technologies..."

~ Tim Welch - Director of Finance, Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust