Posted on: 15 June 2020
The first crane has arrived on the former St Mary's Hospital site at Armley in Leeds and has started to hoist the steel beams of the new regional CAMHS Unit (child and adolescent mental health) into place.
The 22-bed facility will be open in late 2021 and will provide specialist care in therapeutic areas, including a multi-purpose activity room and educational facilities. There will be a family visiting room and a green communal space as well as a place of safety in the unit for young people in crisis and in need of urgent help.
It will help to reduce the distance that children, young people and their families have to travel to receive specialist mental health, a key priority for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.
Architects Gilling Dod have also released a video of what the new unit, built on the former site, will look like.
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 plan incorporating this feedback delivers a high quality environment and the best possible experience for young people accessing care.
The West Yorkshire CAMHS unit is a joint venture between Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.