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Dorset HealthCare is at the forefront of developing excellent mental health services for children and young people. Our child and adolescent inpatient unit Pebble Lodge in Bournemouth has an ‘outstanding’ rating from the CQC as well as accreditation from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Quay School, which runs a satellite school on the site, is rated ‘excellent’ by OFSTED. We also run one of very few mother and baby mental health units in the country, supporting families affected by mental health issues following a new birth.
The quality of our current service means we have been chosen by NHS England as one of the trusts which will lead the way in further developing mental health services for children and young people. A national expansion programme is providing funding to tackle the shortage of specialist inpatient facilities and Dorset children will benefit from this.
There is currently no psychiatric intensive care unit for children in Dorset – local young people often end up being sent as far away as Manchester due to bed shortages nearer to home. Last year 33 children and young people were sent out of the area for specialist treatment. At their most vulnerable, they were separated from their families and the health teams that know them best because there were no beds in their local area.
With funding from NHS England, Dorset HealthCare is aiming to establish a centre of excellence for child and adolescent mental health services. At our Alumhurst Road site in Westbourne we are planning:
Our mother and baby unit, currently at Alumhurst Road, will move to St Anns Hospital in Poole and will expand from five beds to eight to provide more specialist care for families with newborns.
What will happen at Alumhurst Road
The development needed to deliver the improvements will be subject to planning permission and a planning application will be submitted to Bournemouth Borough Council in July.
We are committed to sensitively managing the development to minimise the impact on the site, our neighbours and the environment. With this is mind we will:
Open days
We will be running two open days at the site for residents and others to see the plans and speak to staff. These will be happening on:
If you would prefer us to come and speak to you individually or attend a residents’ meeting please contact Stuart Lynch on 01202 584361 to arrange this.
