Mersey Care has now officially opened Clock View Hospital, a £25 million mental health facility, following 18 months of construction.
Liverpool & Sefton Health Partnership (LSHP) oversaw the Clock View hospital build; a partnership set up under the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust programme for the Liverpool and Sefton areas in order to develop new health facilities through a public-private partnership.
The new hospital is located on the site of the former Walton Hospital and will provide short-stay treatment for local residents suffering a range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and dementia. The facility will offer 85 individual bedrooms with en-suite facilities, and will also provide Liverpool’s new psychiatric intensive care unit for urgent in-patient care.
Additionally, Clock View will act as the base for a new local assessment and immediate care service providing emergency, urgent, and routine assessment to enable better support for patients transitioning between in-patient and community services.
Humphrey Claxton, chairman of LSHP said:
“Since we started LSHP a little over ten years ago we have managed more than £120m of investment and developed 15 new health facilities in Liverpool and Sefton, of which Clock View is the largest. The hospital sets a new standard for mental health care, designed to promote wellbeing, from the use of natural light, to the high standards of accommodation and secure outdoor areas.
“It has been a pleasure to work in close collaboration with Mersey Care to develop such a leading new facility, a facility which has given the local economy a huge boost, creating hundreds of jobs for local people, and acting as a catalyst for growth in North Liverpool.”
Mersey Care’s chief executive Joe Rafferty said:
“People in Merseyside deserve the very best mental health services in the country and we are proud that Clock View makes a bold statement that second-rate facilities are simply just not good enough.
“Clock View is a beacon that will help tackle the stigma associated with mental ill-health because it is a hospital where every patient has their own room with ensuite bathroom and it will provide the highest standards of care within a therapeutic environment – all designed to promote recovery.”
Clock View should become fully operational in March and will replace Stoddart House adult mental health in-patient unit, which will be handed back to Aintree University Hospital in an agreement to purchase the Walton site.
Construction company Farrans Heron Joint Venture helped to develop the LSHP build, employing as many as 1,500 tradesmen.
Words: Peter Cribley