A new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is underway on the St Mary’s Hospital site in Armley, Leeds, providing 22 inpatient beds and much needed improvements and facilities for children and young people across West Yorkshire.
The £15m facility includes 2 GAU wards of 8 beds & a 6 bed PICU, together with a range of spacious therapeutic areas including a multi-purpose activity room, educational facilities, a family visiting room, courtyards and a green communal space for service users and staff. In addition, there will be a health-based place of safety in the unit, where a young person who is thought to be in urgent need of care will receive a mental health assessment to ensure they get the most appropriate support.
The design was created with in depth stakeholder and user engagement, involving staff, partners in CAMHS services, young people who access support, their carers and the local community to understand their needs and how they think the new unit should look and feel. A public information event was held in September 2018 to gain feedback on the initial proposals. The finalised plans incorporating this feedback delivers a high quality environment and the best possible experience for young people accessing care.
The new unit supports both national and regional priorities in reducing the distance that children, young people and their families have to travel to receive specialist mental health care.
Work started on site in February 2020, with the demolition of some of the existing St Mary’s buildings. Construction started on site in April 2020 and a planned opening date is September 2021.
For a sneak preview of what the new unit will look like, check out the fly through here
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Sue Cooper, Associate Director - Business Development
Sue is an organised and efficient business developer and is a driving force behind the Practices focus on business improvement.