Proposed adult acute mental health inpatient unit

Our vision is to deliver great care and achieve great outcomes – together, helping people of all ages live their lives to their fullest potential by supporting them to keep mentally and physically well. We are committed to providing consistently high quality, modern acute/inpatient mental health services for the residents of Hertfordshire. To achieve this we want to:

• Keep people clinically and physically safe

• Keep people closer to their communities to give them the best possible experience

• Provide high quality, therapeutic, modern environments in the right setting

• Deliver our services fairly across the county

• Ensure we have the right resources and facilities to serve our population.

Our adult inpatient units

Currently our adult inpatient services are based at:

• Kingfisher Court, (a modern, purpose-built facility),

• Aston ward (Stevenage) and Albany Lodge (St Albans), two smaller, much older units

Aston Ward and Albany Lodge are no longer fit for purpose. The age and design of these older sites mean that we cannot deliver the level of care we would like, and we are unable to upgrade them to a standard that is fit for today’s needs. Aston Ward would be particularly difficult to upgrade as it is part of the Lister Acute Hospital site.

As a result we now have more beds in the west of the county, meaning difficulties in access to care for those in the east.

What’s changing?

We are delighted to announce that we are investing in a new, purpose built 54 bed unit with one Acute Assessment Unit and two Assessment and Treatment Wards to expand our adult acute mental health inpatient services. Our service user’s resident in East and North Hertfordshire will access the new unit which will be built in the Stevenage area. Service users from West Hertfordshire normally admitted to Albany Lodge will be admitted to Kingfisher Court in Radlett.

This will create 10 extra beds and allow us to deliver our services from two sites; Radlett and Stevenage, helping us to address the current demand. With the new build, we will be able to offer our service users care closer to home and ensure a fair spread across the county. The new and improved facility will mean our service users will be seen in a place designed for their needs and allow us to provide continued and ongoing services to meet the high demand in the county.